BX  9225  .B43  H3 

Harlow,  S.  Ralph  b.  1885. 

The  life  of  H.  Roswell  Bates 


THE  LIFE 

OF 

H.  ROSWELL  BATES 


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THE  LIFE 

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H.   ROSWELL   BATES 


BY 


S.    RALPH    HARLOW 


ILLUSTRATED 


New  York        Chicago       Toronto 

Fleming    H.    Revell    Company 

London    and    Edinburgh 


Copyright,  1914,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York :  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  125  North  Wabash  Ave. 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  Street,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:      100    Princes    Street 


To 

EDITH  TALCOTT  BATES 

Wife  of 

H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

This  Book  is  Affectionately  Dedicated 
BY  THE  Friend  of  Them  Both 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE 

THIS  little  volume  has  been  prepared  as 
a  work  of  love,  in  the  hope  that  it 
might  serve  as  a  memorial  for  the 
many  friends  to  whom  in  Spring  Street,  at 
the  student  conferences,  and  in  his  wider  min- 
istry, Mr.  Bates  brought  the  strong,  attractive 
message  of  his  life.  If  to  a  larger  circle  it 
may  present  concretely  the  possibilities  of 
the  Christian  ministry  as  they  have  actually 
been  realized  in  the  center  of  one  of  the  most 
difficult  fields  in  our  own  or  any  land,  and 
if  to  men  in  the  ministry  who  are  face  to  face 
with  such  problems  as  those  with  which  Mr. 
Bates  struggled,  the  message  of  his  life  shall 
bring  hope  and  inspiration  to  enter  with  new 
joy  into  the  glorious,  unending  conflict,  I  shall 
feel  that  God  has  richly  blessed  my  work. 

The  distance  from  America  and  the  inac- 
cessibility to  much  detail  made  it  impossible 
for  me  to  attempt  any  full  biographical 
sketch.  The  first  two  chapters  form  a  con- 
densed outline  of  Mr.  Bates'  life,  and  in  the 
succeeding  chapters  I  have  endeavored  to 
bring  out  those  characteristics  of  his  life 
which  endeared  him  to  a  host  of  friends, 
and  those  features  of  his  work  which  made 
it  of  universal  interest.  The  indiscriminate 
use  of  the  names  Roswell  and  Herb  may  seem 
strange  to  those  who  knew  Mr.  Bates  by  only 
one  of  them.  But  as  his  family  circle  and 
many  friends  used  the  former  name,  while  his 


8  AUTHOR'S  PREFACE 

college  and  seminary  friends  and  the  students 
knew  him  only  as  Herb,  it  seemed  best  to  use 
both. 

My  friendship  for  Roswell  Bates  began  in 
my  college  days  at  Harvard,  and  was  strength- 
ened as  I  met  him  at  the  summer  conferences. 
Upon  graduation,  I  went  to  New  York,  where 
I  spent  a  year  as  a  worker  in  the  Neighbor- 
hood House  at  Spring  Street.  The  close  in- 
timacy of  that  year,  when  we  lived  together 
in  the  Annex,  and  shared  each  others'  expe- 
riences as  few  men  ever  do,  ripened  our  love 
and  mutual  understanding.  During  my  sem- 
inary course  at  Union,  I  continued  my  ser- 
vice at  Spring  Street,  where  Mrs.  Harlow 
was  then  a  resident  worker.  To  the  day  of 
our  departure  from  America,  Mrs.  Harlow 
and  I  possessed  in  a  very  real  way  the  friend- 
ship of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bates,  and  this  friend- 
ship followed  us  into  our  missionary  life.  It 
is  not,  then,  merely  as  my  friend  that  I  think 
and  write  of  Roswell  Bates,  but  as  my 
brother,  loved  in  a  common  loyalty  to  the 
ministry  of  Jesus  Christ. 

I  am  indebted  to  the  generous  help  of  many 
friends  who  sent  me  their  reminiscences  and 
told  of  what  Mr.  Bates  had  meant  in  their 
own  lives.  Especially  am  I  indebted  to  Miss 
Anne  Wiggin  of  the  Neighborhood  House, 
and  to  my  wife,  both  of  whom  made  easier 
my  task  by  their  encouragement  and  help. 

S.  Ralph  Harlow. 
International  College, 

Smyrna,  Turkey-in-Asia, 


Contents 

PAGE 

I. 

The  Years  of  Preparation   . 

15 

II. 

The  Years  of  Fulfillment  . 

33 

III. 

Spring  Street 

49 

IV. 

The     Neighborhood  -  House 

Family       .... 

75 

V. 

Faithful  unto  Death   . 

93 

VI. 

His  Work  in  the  Schools  and 

Colleges     .... 

105 

VII. 

The  College  Conferences    . 

125 

VIII. 

From  Darkness  into  Light  . 

137 

IX. 

Prospice 

140 

Illustrations 


Opposite  Pagb 

H.  RoswELL  Bates     .         .        Frontispiece 

The  Child i8 

The  Boy 28 

The  Father 42 

Spring  Street  Presbyterian  Church 
AND  Neighborhood-House  .     50 

A   NORTHFIELD    CONFERENCE    GrOUP    .     126 

The  Family 142 

Entrance  to  Bates  House       .        .156 


n 


I 

THE  YEARS   OF   PREPARATION 


n 


Where  cross  the  Crowded  ways  of  life, 
Where  sound  the  cries  of  race  and  clan, 

Above  the  noise  of  selfish  strife 

We  hear  Thy  voice,  O  Son  of  Man! 

In  haunts  of  wretchedness  and  need, 

On  shadowed  thresholds,  dark  with  fears; 

From  paths  where  hide  the  lures  of  greed, 
We  catch  the  vision  of  Thy  tears. 

From  tender  childhood's  helplessness. 
From  woman's  grief,  man's  burdened  toil, 

From  famished  souls,  from  sorrow's  stress. 
Thy  heart  has  never  known  recoil. 

The  cup  of  water  given  for  Thee, 
Still  holds  the  freshness  of  Thy  grace; 

Yet  long  these  multitudes  to  see 
The  sweet  compassion  of  Thy  face. 

O  Master,  from  the  mountain-side. 
Make  haste  to  heal  these  hearts  of  pain; 

Among  these  restless  throngs  abide, 
O  tread  the  city's  streets  again. 

Till  sons  of  men  shall  learn  Thy  love. 
And  follow  where  Thy  feet  have  trod; 

Till  glorious  from  Thy  heaven  above. 
Shall  come  the  city  of  our  God. 

— Frank  Mason  North. 


U 


I 

THE  YEARS  OF  PREPARATION 

HERBERT  ROSWELL'  BATES  was 
born  in  that  period  after  the  Civil 
War  when  the  nation  had  settled  down 
to  peace  and  prosperity,  but  he  belonged  es- 
sentially in  thought  and  action  to  the  period 
of  social  and  industrial  development  of  our 
own  day.  In  a  remarkable  degree  it  was 
given  to  him  to  make  practical  application  of 
the  Gospel  of  Christ  to  some  of  the  most 
difficult  social  problems  of  this  restless  age, 
and  to  reveal  in  his  own  attractive  person- 
ality the  possibilities  of  far-reaching  service 
in  the  ministry  of  our  Lord. 

For  his  life-work  Roswell  Bates  was  well 
prepared  by  heredity  and  training.  His 
grandparents  on  his  father's  side  were  of  old 
New  England  stock,  the  grandfather  a  man  of 
keen  intelligence  and  high  integrity,  stern,  reso- 
lute, honored,  and  feared  by  all  who  knew 
him;  the  grandmother,  of  gentler  spirit.  It 
must  have  been  from  her  that  Charles  Car- 
roll   Bates,    Roswell's    father,    inherited    his 

IS 


16       LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

tenderness  and  sympathy.  These  qualities, 
combined  with  the  stern  virtues  of  the  father, 
under  whose  discipline  he  grew  to  manhood, 
made  him  a  man  of  unusual  charm  and 
ability.  His  mother  died  when  he  was  but  a 
baby.  Charles  Carroll  Bates  began  his  prac- 
tice of  medicine  in  the  town  of  Potsdam,  New 
York,  and  there  he  married  Charlotte  Clark, 
whose  ancestry  went  back  to  an  old  Holland 
Dutch  family  on  her  paternal  side,  and  on 
her  mother's  side  to  the  family  of  Aaron 
Burr.  Together  they  founded  a  home,  into 
which  the  young  husband  determined  to  bring 
all  that  he  had  longed  for  and  missed  in  his 
early  days,  after  his  mother's  death.  He  could 
not  have  chosen  a  better  partner  for  that  home. 
Charlotte  Clark's  happy  and  joyous  nature, 
her  fine  feeling  and  ready  tact,  her  intellectual 
tastes  and  general  capability,  fitted  her  to  be 
a  perfect  home-maker. 

Their  first  child,  born  some  years  after  their 
marriage,  died  in  his  infancy.  The  second 
child  was  a  girl,  and  two  years  afterwards,  on 
April  20,  1870,  Herbert  Roswell  was  born. 
No  child  could  have  received  a  more  joyous 
welcome  or  have  grown  up  in  happier  sur- 
roundings. The  entire  family  was  united  by 
the  closest  affection,  and  the  father  and  mother 
devoted  themselves  to    their  children.    When 


THE  YEARS  OF  PEEPARATION      17 

Roswell  was  three,  the  family  moved  to 
Auburn,  New  York,  and  there  Dr.  Bates  soon 
acquired  a  large  and  exacting  practice.  But 
he  was  still  a  companion  to  his  children.  He 
planned  to  have  them  go  with  him  as  often  as 
possible  on  his  professional  drives  into  the 
country  or  about  the  city.  He  was  interested 
in  his  patients  as  human  beings  as  well  as 
petitioners  for  his  skill,  and  the  boy  became 
interested  in  them  too.  Thus,  from  the  begin- 
ning, the  world  was  always  for  Roswell  a  world 
of  people.  He  felt  their  needs  and  shared  their 
homely  problems. 

Others  of  his  later  characteristics  were  early 
shown.  He  was  always  ready  to  meet  emer- 
gencies and  was  seldom  disconcerted.  He 
was  rarely  punished,  for  the  sweetness  of  his 
nature,  his  desire  to  make  every  one  happy, 
his  keen  sense  of  right  and  wrong,  and  his  re- 
sponse to  reason,  rendered  it  unnecessary. 

The  atmosphere  of  the  home  was  religious. 
The  children  were  taught  that  God  was  their 
Heavenly  Father  and  that  all  good  things  came 
from  Him.  He  had  made  them  and  given 
them  to  their  parents  in  answer  to  prayer.  It 
was  natural  that  they  should  love  Him.  Their 
father  and  mother  talked  to  Him,  and  they 
learned  to  talk  to  Him  too.  At  family  prayers 
the  father  sat  on  the  big  sofa  with  a  child 


18        LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

on  each  side.  Cuddle;!  close  to  him  they  spelled 
out  the  words  in  the  big  family  Bible,  when  it 
was  their  turn  to  read  a  verse.  Their  father's 
prayer  was  simple  and  sincere,  and  he  prayed 
for  them  and  the  things  in  which  they  were 
interested.  In  Roswell's  own  Bible,  which  he 
always  cherished,  the  father  wrote,  "God  bless 
my  son,  that  my  son  may  bless  the  world." 
That  prayer  was  a  natural  and  spontaneous 
expression  of  the  heart  is  illustrated  by  many 
occurrences  of  Roswell's  childhood. 

An  incident  full  of  humor  took  place  when 
he  was  but  seven  years  old,  and  was  visiting  a 
cousin,  a  boy  of  about  his  own  age.  One  day 
they  got  into  a  heated  political  argument,  Ros- 
well  was  a  burning  Republican,  his  cousin 
just  as  ardent  a  Democrat.  Roswell  loved  his 
cousin  Frank  so  dearly  that  his  heart  ached 
for  what  to  him  was  Frank's  benighted  igno- 
rance. That  evening  during  prayers,  in  which 
even  the  children  joined,  when  Roswell's  turn 
came,  he  startled  the  family  by  praying, 
"Please,  Heavenly  Father,  won't  you  please 
forgive  the  Democrats,  for  you  remember  they 
don't  know  any  better."  This  produced  a 
very  audible  "Humph!"  from  the  other  side 
of  the  room. 

At  another  time,  while  making  a  visit  in 
the  country  with  his  cousin,  the  boys  made  a 


The  Child 


THE  YEARS  OF  PREPARATION      19 

raft.  At  dinner-time  they  told  of  their  labors 
with  great  enthusiasm.  After  the  meal,  how- 
ever, they  returned  to  the  river-bank  to  find  the 
raft  destroyed  by  the  rough  village  boys.  You 
can  Imagine  the  state  of  mind  of  Roswell  and 
Frank,  as,  with  indignation  in  their  eyes  and 
heated  words  upon  their  lips,  they  returned 
home.  Soon  Roswell's  voice  softened,  however, 
and  he  said,  "But,  Cousin  Mary,  I  shall  pray 
for  them  tonight."  His  cousin  Frank  said, 
with  a  decided  shrug  of  his  shoulders,  "Well, 
/  shan't" 

The  story  of  these  early  childhood  days  is 
that  of  any  happy,  healthy,  American  boy.  One 
day  when  Roswell  was  playing  at  the  home  of 
a  little  friend  he  noticed  that  particularly  hope- 
ful supper  preparations  were  being  made. 
Probably  company  was  expected.  Taking  in 
the  situation  in  his  quick  way,  he  quietly  re- 
marked to  the  maid,  "Elsie,  you  may  put  on 
a  plate  for  me." 

Roswell  was  seven  and  his  sister  nine  when 
they  first  went  to  school.  Up  to  that  time  his 
sister  was  almost  his  only  playmate,  and 
throughout  his  whole  life  there  existed  between 
them  a  close  comradeship  and  sympathy,  which 
was  a  strong  controUing  factor  in  the  lives  of 
each.     They  were  alike  in  ideals  and  bound 


20        LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

together  in  an  unusual  intimacy  by  the  pre- 
cepts and  joys  of  their  early  home. 

They  went  to  the  public  school.  Roswell 
had  been  so  sheltered  from  rough  companion- 
ship that  he  found  this  new  world  full  of  ex- 
citement and  thrilling  adventure.  Returning 
home  from  school  one  day,  he  announced  to 
his  mother,  "I  have  had  a  terrible  fight !"  As 
he  bore  no  marks  of  the  fray,  his  mother's 
curiosity  exceeded  her  anxiety,  and  she  asked 
for  an  account  of  the  event.  He  explained 
that  a  colored  boy  had  followed  him  from 
school,  calling  him  names,  and  had  picked  up 
a  stone  and  thrown  it  right  through  his  slate. 
And  sure  enough  there  was  the  hole,  an  in- 
disputable witness  to  the  one-sided  "fight." 

It  was  then  that  the  mother  gently  told  him 
that  such  a  deliberate  act  of  hostility  must 
be  the  result  of  some  unhappy  and  morose 
quality  in  the  boy's  heart,  perhaps  a  lack  of 
some  one  to  love  him  and  to  sympathize  with 
him.  How  it  came  about  no  one  knows,  but 
very  soon  the  colored  boy,  who  had  been  at 
once  the  dread  and  the  butt  of  the  other  chil- 
dren in  the  school,  was  a  firm  friend  of  the 
white  boy  whom  he  had  tried  to  injure. 
From  this  time  Roswell  took  a  warm  interest 
in  the  colored  race,  an  interest  which  he 
always   felt  and  which  manifested   itself  in 


THE  YEARS  OF  PREPARATION      21 

many  a  visit  to  the  colored  settlement  in  Au- 
burn, and  later,  in  his  college  days  in  Clinton, 
to  direct  religious  and  social  work  among 
them. 

But  a  cloud  of  sorrow  came  over  the  beau- 
tiful life  of  this  household,  for  when  Roswell 
was  but  ten  years  old,  his  father  developed 
a  disease  of  the  spine,  from  which  he  expe- 
rienced acute  and  increasing  suffering  until  his 
death  two  years  later.  Of  this  suffering  the 
children  were  necessarily  witnesses,  although 
the  worst  of  it  was  kept  from  them.  A!s  the 
family  life  centered  more  and  more  in  the 
sickroom,  its  scenes  of  patient  endurance  im- 
pressed them  with  the  conquest  of  the  soul 
and  the  value  of  the  spiritual  life.  It  was  no 
wonder  that  when  his  father  passed  from  this 
world  into  the  next,  heaven  became  a  very 
real  place  to  the  boy,  or  that  there  came  a  ten- 
derness and  thoughtfulness  into  his  life. 

From  this  time,  too,  the  tie  between  mother 
and  son  became  even  closer.  He  not  only  knew 
her  feelings  by  Instinct,  but  he  knew  how  to 
express  his  sympathy.  Her  nobility  of  soul, 
her  cheerful  way  of  meeting  life's  problems,  her 
happy  faith,  as  well  as  her  quiet  undemonstra- 
tive grief,  all  met  their  re^sponse  in  him.  He  be- 
gan to  feel  a  man's  desire  to  help  in  meeting  the 
family's  expenses,  and  his  mother  allowed  him 


22        LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

to  undertake  the  sale  of  a  small  folding  table. 
He  spent  many  hours  in  Auburn  and  the  adjoin- 
ing towns  seeking  orders.  He  was  wonderfully 
successful  and  earned  a  considerable  sum, 
which  his  mother  deposited  to  his  credit.  Not 
one  cent  did  he  spend  upon  any  of  those  many 
things  for  which  boys  of  his  age  always  long. 
But  when  Christmas-time  came,  he  gave  each 
member  of  the  family  a  beautiful  and  compara- 
tively expensive  present.  And  he  was  happy 
then !  In  his  later  days,  he  had  what  he  called 
his  "enjoyment  fund" — it  was  for  the  use  of 
some  college  lad,  who,  working  his  way  through 
college,  was  unable  to  spend  anything  upon 
social  pleasures.  Supplying  this  lack  was  his 
enjoyment! 

When  he  had  just  passed  his  eighteenth  birth- 
day, Roswell  was  confined  to  his  bed  one  day 
with  a  slight  illness,  and  his  mother  spent  the 
greater  part  of  the  time  at  his  side.  She  talked 
of  his  future  and  of  her  ambitions  for  him.  She 
longed  to  have  him  become  a  Christian  minister. 
That  was  his  last  day  with  his  mother.  She 
passed  away  at  night  in  her  sleep,  and  the  next 
morning  he  and  his  sister  knelt  hand  in  hand 
by  her  side  and  consecrated  their  lives  anew 
to  the  God  she  loved. 

Two  months  after  his  mother's  death,  his 
sister  entered  college,  and  his  aunt  and  he  were 


THE  YEARS  OF  PREPARATION      23 

left  alone  until  he  finished  his  high-school 
course.  His  aunt  had  always  been  like  an  older 
sister,  and  from  this  time  his  affection  for  her 
became  yet  stronger  and  he  gave  her  the  devo- 
tion of  a  son.  Till  his  earthly  life  was  ended 
they  were  not  separated,  and  she  writes  of  their 
relationship,  "I  feel  so  grateful  for  the  many 
years  I  had  him.  I  doubt  if  there  is  a  mother 
living  who  has  had  such  love  as  he  gave  me." 
In  his  ministry  at  Spring  Street,  his  aunt  gave 
him  not  only  her  loving  companionship,  but  en- 
tered with  earnestness  into  his  work  and  lived 
for  some  years  in  the  Neighborhood  House. 

Till  the  time  of  his  mother's  death  the  ques- 
tion of  Roswell's  future  life-work  seemed  al- 
most to  decide  itself.  His  great-grandfather, 
grandfather,  and  father  were  physicians,  and  as 
he  was  the  only  son,  his  first  thought  was,  "I 
must  follow  in  their  footsteps,"  for  he  knew 
that  in  this  life  with  its  many  and  varied  op- 
portunities, a  large  field  was  open  for  useful- 
ness. At  the  close  of  his  junior  year  in  the 
High  School,  he  had  gone  to  Ithaca  and  passed 
the  entrance  examinations  for  the  Scientific 
School  of  Cornell,  with  the  intention  of  prepar- 
ing himself  for  the  medical  course.  This  was 
just  before  his  mother's  death.  But  the  in- 
fluence of  his  mother's  talk  with  him  that  last 
day  together  turned  his  thoughts  in  the  direc- 


24        LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

tion  of  the  ministry,  and  during  his  senior  year 
in  the  High  School  he  determined  to  take  an- 
other year  of  classical  study  and  then  enter  the 
academic  course  at  Hamilton  College,  to  fit  him- 
self for  the  theological  seminary. 

Upon  leaving  the  High  School,  a  proposition 
came  from  family  friends  living  in  Nebraska, 
asking  if  Rosvvell  would  come  to  Elba  and  be- 
come the  principal  of  their  high  school.  This 
expression  of  confidence  appealed  to  his  man- 
hood and  seemed  very  attractive  to  the  boy, 
and  he  accepted.  His  intensity  of  living  was 
manifest  even  at  that  early  age,  for  often  after 
a  day  of  hard  work  in  Elba,  his  evening  was 
spent  in  a  neighboring  town,  leading  a  meeting 
which  aimed  at  the  suppression  of  intemperance 
and  vice.  He  called  upon  the  young  people 
around  him  to  help  by  furnishing  music  for  his 
meetings.  Frequently  he  assisted  in  services 
on  the  Sabbath  when  the  pastor  was  not  able 
to  be  present.  His  wonderful  love  for  his  fel- 
low-men developed  in  a  larger  degree  during 
these  months.  The  self- forget  fulness  and  sacri- 
fice which  characterized  his  entire  life  was  often 
noticed  and  spoken  of  there.  He  organized 
neighborhood  clubs  in  the  town  in  order  to  es- 
tablish high  ideals  among  the  people.  At  the 
close  of  the  year  he  was  urged  to  continue  his 


THE  YEARS  OF  PREPARATION      25 

work,  but  was  firm  in  his  decision  to  enter 
college  that  Fall. 

In  the  Fall  of  1891  he  became  a  Freshman 
at  Hamilton  College,  Clinton,  New  York.  A 
business  man  who  was  his  room-mate  for  two 
of  his  college  years,  and  who  possibly  knew 
him  as  well  as  one  man  can  know  another, 
writes,  "There  is  nothing  in  the  world  that  I 
would  exchange  for  my  memories  and  thoughts 
of  him."  Another  friend  at  college  tells  how 
Roswell  never  distinguished  himself  as  a  stu- 
dent, for  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  stay  alone 
long  enough  to  do  sustained  work.  He  al- 
ways had  to  have  one  or  more  men  with  him. 
He  arranged  "study-groups,"  asking  men  to 
come  to  his  room  to  study  with  him,  or  going 
up  College  Hill  to  study  with  his  friends  in 
their  rooms  in  the  dormitories.  It  was  always 
a  question  just  how  much  serious  work  was 
done  in  these  hours  of  good-fellowship,  but 
Roswell  protested  that  a  vast  amount  was  ac- 
complished. 

During  his  college  course  an  incident  took 
place  which  was  a  hard  experience  for  him,  but 
which  showed  the  heroic  unselfishness  which 
always  marked  his  actions.  To  shield  a  fellow- 
student  from  disgrace,  after  that  student  had 
pleaded  with  Roswell  for  help,  he  allowed  him- 
self to  be  accused  of  a  theft,  and  remained 


26        LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

silent.  He  was  suspended  from  the  college, 
and  the  strain  of  this  experience  brought  on  a 
serious  illness.  The  facts  of  the  case  having 
been  cleared  up,  Roswell  returned  to  college 
and  became  a  stronger  power  for  good  in  the 
life  of  the  college  than  ever  before. 

During  his  senior  year  a  prize  was  offered 
for  the  best  thesis  in  advocacy  of  a  protective 
tariff.  Roswell  amazed  his  classmates  by  an- 
nouncing that  he  had  written  a  thesis.  Politics 
made  no  particular  appeal  to  him,  and  the  sub- 
ject seemed  to  be  outside  his  natural  interest. 
It  was  autobiographical  in  form,  and  purported 
to  be  the  story  of  a  day  laborer  who  at  great 
effort  had  acquired  a  farm  and  cottage,  had 
a  family  of  children,  and  was  making  a  keen 
struggle  to  maintain  his  economic  independence, 
and  to  give  advantages  to  his  children.  The 
narrative  showed  how  the  national  tariff  policy 
had  helped  the  man  in  his  successive  steps  up- 
ward, and  how  a  change  in  that  policy  would 
add  to  the  odds  against  which  he  was  fighting. 
The  general  verdict  of  his  friends  was  that 
Herb's  production  was  an  interesting  little 
novel,  but  a  poor  thesis.  He  said  that  It  was 
the  only  kind  he  could  write,  that  he  had  read 
and  studied  a  great  deal  about  the  tariff,  but 
had  no  interest  in  statistics  and  long  arguments 


THE  YEARS  OF  PEEPARATION      27 

which  were  not  expressed  in  terms  of  life.  His 
thesis  took  the  prize. 

One  of  the  interesting  experiences  of  Herb's 
upper-class  years  was  his  connection  with  the 
colored  church.  There  was  a  large  negro  popu- 
lation in  Clinton  and  they  were  almost  entirely 
without  religious  privileges.  A  colored  Meth- 
odist preacher  had  antagonized  the  colored 
Baptists,  and  a  colored  Baptist  had  tried  to  re- 
baptize  the  colored  Methodists.  The  situation 
was  desperate,  but  Herb  came  to  the  rescue. 
He  became  pastor  of  the  colored  church. 

The  congregation  met  on  Sunday  evenings,  in 
the  large  room  of  an  abandoned  school-house, 
which  was  usually  well  filled.  Roswell  gave 
himself  to  his  first  congregation.  He  preached 
simple  direct  homilies,  which  were  suggested 
by  the  needs  of  his  hearers,  and  which  had  to 
do  with  the  elemental  problems  and  duties  of 
life.  He  had  the  same  fervent  manner  and 
vivid  concrete  expression  which  characterized 
all  of  his  later  public  speaking.  He  never  found 
more  joy  in  presenting  the  claims  of  Christ  to 
a  university  audience,  and  was  never  more  ear- 
nest in  seeking  to  win  to  Christian  service  lives 
of  rare  promise,  than  in  these  early  days  when 
to  his  colored  flock  he  spoke  plainly  yet  loving- 
ly of  their  besetting  sins,  pictured  the  joy  of 
the  Christian  life,  and  pleaded  with  them  to 


28        LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

give  themselves  to  their  Savior.  He  followed 
up  his  preaching  with  true  pastoral  visitation. 
He  taught  them  how  to  make  their  homes  more 
attractive.  He  closely  watched  those  who  were 
not  always  inclined  to  be  sober.  And  when 
the  time  came  for  him  to  leave  college,  he 
planned  for  the  continuation  of  his  work.  In 
return,  those  for  whom  he  worked  loved  him 
devotedly,  and  once,  when  there  was  a  death 
among  their  number,  and  it  was  suggested  that 
an  ordained  minister  be  secured,  a  general  opin- 
ion was  expressed,  "Mr.  Bates  is  all  the  min- 
ister we  want." 

President  Stryker,  of  Hamilton  College, 
writes,  "Many  of  Mr.  Bates'  class  have  become 
widely  and  deeply  useful,  but  none  of  them  be- 
yond Roswell  Bates." 

Upon  his  graduation  from  college,  in  June, 
1895,  he  went  back  to  the  home  of  his  child- 
hood. Auburn,  for  his  seminary  training,  which 
extended  from  1895  to  1898.  He  always  re- 
mained a  devoted  and  loyal  son  of  Auburn 
Seminary.  A  decade  before  him,  Maltbie  Bab- 
cock  had  been  a  student  there,  and  Babcock  was 
his  ideal  of  a  minister.  In  later  years,  when  he 
was  at  Spring  Street,  a  letter  of  encourage- 
ment from  Maltbie  Babcock  hung  over  his  desk ; 
a  letter  written  to  him  as  he  took  up  his  min- 


The  Boy 


THE  YEARS  OP  PREPARATION      29 

istry  as  pastor  of  Spring  Street  Church.    The 
letter  read : 

Brick  Presbyterian  Church, 
14  East  37th  Street,  New  York. 
January  31,  1901. 
My  dear  Mr.  Bates: 

I  am  delighted  that  you  have  accepted  the  call  to 
Spring  Street  and  assure  you  that  no  one  has 
warmer  wishes  and  more  certain  hopes  for  you  than 
I.  I  hope  you  will  feel  that  at  any  time  I  can  be  of 
service  to  you  by  correspondence  or  interview  you 
will  take  advantage  of  me. 

Your  sincere  friend, 

M.  D.  Babcock. 

Auburn  has  never  lacked  men  of  consecrated 
and  heroic  life  among  her  student  body,  and 
there  was  such  a  group  in  Roswell's  day.  With 
men  of  this  type  he  formed  friendships  of  a 
most  enduring  character.  Dr.  Hoyt,  one  of  Ros- 
well's professors  in  [Auburn  Seminary,  writes, 
"Mr.  Bates  was  a  loyal,  heroic,  young  soldier 
on  the  advance  line.  He  lived  a  full  life  and 
kept  the  faith,  though  his  years  were  short. 
He  was  unique  for  his  singleness,  his  faith,  his 
courage,  and  to  him  nothing  was  impossible 
that  he  felt  ought  to  be  done.  His  example  has 
been  contagious  beyond  that  of  any  young  man 
that  I  have  known.  Many  have  taken  heart 
over  his  victories.    Young  men  have  felt  how 


30       LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

noble  is  the  task  of  the  ministry.     In  many  a 
hard  hour  his  example  has  heartened  me." 

During  his  seminary  course  he  heard  Dr. 
Halsey,  then  the  pastor  of  Spring  Street 
Church,  tell  of  the  Increasing  problems  which 
his  own  an4  all  "down-town"  churches  of  New 
York  City  were  facing,  with  the  influx  of  a 
great  foreign  population  and  the  migration  up- 
town of  the  church  members.  The  problem  of 
the  down-town  church  made  a  strong  appeal 
to  Roswell  Bates,  so  strong,  in  fact,  that  the 
next  time  he  went  to  New  York  City,  he  walked 
down  to  Spring  Street  and  looked  at  the  old 
church.  As  he  stood  there,  his  heart  was  moved 
within  him,  as  he  realized  the  great  problems  of 
that  section  of  the  city,  the  solutions  of  which 
were  being  left  largely  to  the  corner  saloon. 
Then  and  there  Roswell  Bates  said  to  himself, 
*T  want  to  be  a  minister  to  a  church  like  Spring 
Street."  How  little  did  he  realize  all  that 
Spring  Street  was  to  mean  to  him  in  the  years 
to  come. 


n 

THE  YEARS   OF    FULFILLMENT 


/  live  for  those  who  love  me. 

For  those  who  know  me  true, 
For  the  heaven  that  smiles  above  me. 

And  awaits  my  spirit  too; 
For  the  cause  that  lacks  assistance, 

For  the  wrong  that  needs  resistance. 
For  the  future  in  the  distance, 

And  the  good  that  I  can  do. 

— Banks. 


3i- 


II 

THE  YEARS  OF  FULFILLMENT 

ROSWELL  BATES  was  ordained  to  the 
Christian  ministry  at  Auburn,  April  24th, 
1898,  by  the  Presbytery  of  Cayuga.  The 
next  Fall,  he  went  as  assistant  to  the  Church  of 
the  Sea  and  Land,  of  which  Dr.  John  Denni- 
son  was  the  pastor.  Whoever  knows  New  York, 
is  familiar  with  the  district  around  Chatham 
Square.  On  Henry  Street,  near  the  Square, 
under  the  shadow  of  the  great  Brooklyn 
Bridge,  stands  the  Church  of  the  Sea  and  Land. 
Here  Mr.  Bates  found  that  for  which  he  was 
seeking,  a  chance  to  help  people  who  really 
needed  help,  and  a  chance  to  get  at  some  of 
the  big  problems  of  a  city's  life.  The  regime  at 
the  Sea  and  Land  in  those  days  was  severe  and 
ascetic  almost  to  medisevalism,  but  Roswell 
Bates  threw  himself  into  the  work  heart  and 
soul.  Just  enough  food,  and  that  the  very 
plainest,  was  served  to  the  workers.  At  times 
dried  apples  and  beans  grew  monotonous. 
Clothes  were  worn  by  the  workers  of  the  church 
until  to  have  worn  them  longer  would  have  at- 
33 


34        LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

tracted  attention.  Mr.  Bates  has  said  that  often 
he  used  to  put  paper  into  his  shoes  to  stop  up 
the  holes,  while  his  suit  was  nearly  destitute 
of  lining.  They  had  made  it  a  point  never  to 
refuse  admission  or  a  meal  to  any  one  who 
came  to  the  church-house,  and  at  breakfast 
many  a  time,  they  had  a  company  of  drunken 
men  and  women  and  street  waifs.  It  was  a 
literal  interpretation  of  the  Master's  gospel. 

In  a  letter  to  a  friend,  written  at  this  time, 
Roswell  said,  "There  is  something  fascinat- 
ing about  the  work.  When  I  lie  down  at  night 
I  cannot  say  the  day  has  been  wasted,  for  each 
hour  brings  a  task  to  do  for  the  Master:  Can 
you  imagine  me  playing  the  part  of  an  express 
cart  down  East  Broadway,  loaded  with  bags 
of  apples,  bundles  of  clothes,  a  box  with  two 
rabbits,  and  another  with  a  live  chicken,  and 
twenty  'fresh-air'  children  running  around  me 
like  so  many  colts  ?  Or,  do  you  want  a  picture 
of  me  trudging  through  the  sand  at  Coney 
Island,  with  a  baby  on  one  shoulder  and  one 
under  each  arm,  and  fifteen  disreputable-look- 
ing mothers  carrying  more  babies,  as  if  I  were 
a  new  edition  of  Brigham  Young?  Perhaps 
you  prefer  a  kodak  of  me  trying  to  hold  up 
Mrs.  Halloran,  and  to  quiet  her  musical  voice, 
as  she  shouts  to  every  one  that  'she's  all  right.' 
and  staggers  nearly  dead  drunk,  with  her  hat 


THE  YEARS  OF  FULFILLMENT      35 

on  hind  side  before,  and  her  skirt  dragging  be- 
hind.   What  a  time  I  had  with  her!" 

Dr.  Dennison  writes  of  those  days  at  the  Sea 
and  Land :  "Mr.  Bates  shrank  from  no  service, 
no  matter  how  humble  or  humihating,  by  which 
he  felt  he  could  help  some  one  of  those  poor 
people  who  then  lived  on  Cherry  Street.  He 
seemed  to  grow  in  character  and  in  ability  to 
reach  the  people  from  day  to  day,  and  I  shall 
always  count  it  a  great  privilege  to  have  had 
him  associated  with  me.  I  often  look  back  to 
the  little  meetings  we  used  to  have  together 
every  evening,  as  to  one  of  the  inspirations  of 
my  hfe." 

From  the  Church  of  the  Sea  and  Land,  Mr. 
Bates  went  to  the  Fourth  Presbyterian  Church 
of  New  York  as  the  assistant  of  Wilbur  Chap- 
man. At  the  Church  of  the  Sea  and  Land,  he 
had  worked  amid  conditions  of  dirt,  poverty 
and  ignorance;  the  atmosphere  of  the  Fourth 
Church  was  one  of  refinement,  wealth  and  cul- 
ture. Yet  Mr.  Bates  won  the  same  steadfast 
response  from  the  hearts  of  the  people  there, 
that  he  had  drawn  from  the  poor  of  the  tene- 
ments. He  was  looked  up  to  by  the  young 
people  with  devoted  loyalty.  His  ability  to 
adapt  himself  to  any  conditions,  his  under- 
standing of  the  spiritual  poverty  which  existed 
in  many  a  home  of  wealth,  and  his  earnest 


36        LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

desire  to  fill  that  need,  made  his  ministry  one  of 
peculiar  power  and  efficiency.  Throughout 
the  years  of  his  later  ministry  at  Spring  Street, 
the  Fourth  Church  always  assisted  Mr.  Bates 
with  friendship  and  love,  expressed  through 
many  gifts  for  his  work.  At  the  close  of  his 
first  year  at  the  church  he  went  with  Dr.  Chap- 
man on  a  tour  of  the  Holy  Land. 

On  his  return  from  this  trip,  he  was  called 
to  the  pastorate  of  the  Spring  Street  Presby- 
terian Church,  situated  on  Spring  Street,  near 
Varick  Street,  on  the  lower  West  side  of  New 
York  City.  As  the  ministry  of  Roswell  Bates 
is  always  associated  with  the  Spring  Street 
Church,  and  as  it  was  there  that  his  great  life 
work  was  done,  a  separate  chapter  is  devoted 
to  these  years.  He  had  been  at  Spring  Street 
only  a  short  time  when  he  wrote : 

"Oh  the  peace  of  a  life  that  is  happy  only 
when  doing  His  will,  where  He  wills !  I  believe 
I  have  found  my  place." 

For  over  twelve  years  he  was  the  pastor  of 
Spring  Street. 

During  these  years  he  made  two  extensive 
trips  abroad,  one  through  Europe,  including 
Russia,  where  he  visited  Count  Tolstoi.  A 
companion  of  this  trip  thus  describes  the  visit: 
*Tt  was  his  determination  that  won  us  the 
interview  with  Count  Tolstoi.    Mr.  Bates  had 


THE  YEARS  OP  FULFILLMENT      37 

written  two  letters,  one  from  Stockholm  and 

one  from  St.  Petersburg,  but  had  received  no 

reply.    But  that  was  not  enough.    We  saw  the 

American  Consul  in  Moscow,  and  were  told 

that  the  Consul  had  just  tried  to  arrange  with 

the  Count  for  an  interview  with  the  American 

ambassador's  wife,  but  without  avail.     Even 

this  was  not  enough.    Herb  determined  to  meet 

the  man  whom  all  the  world  called  the  poor 

man's  friend.    We  wrote  a  final  letter,  stating 

that  on  a  given  day  we  would  get  off  the  train 

at  Tula,  the  nearest  express  station  to  the 

Count's  estate,  and  would  hope  to  find  a  letter 

in  the  post-office  there,  letting  us  know  whether 

or  not  we  might  have  a  chance  to  meet  Count 

Tolstoi.     We  got  to  Tula,  and  sure  enough, 

there  was  the  letter  we  looked  for.     It  said, 

'My  father  is  very  busy  just  now,  but  he  will 

be  glad  to  see  you  for  five  minutes.*    It  didn't 

take  us  long  to  find  our  way  out  on  the  local 

train    and    through    the    woods    to    'Merry 

Meadows,'  the  simple,  homelike  country  home 

of  Count  Tolstoi.    We  came  expecting  a  stiff 

formal  five  minutes  in  a  stiff  formal  household. 

We  found  the  Countess  and  an  innumerable 

company     of     children     and     grandchildren 

gathered  around  the  tennis-court,  where  a  game 

of  mixed  doubles  was  going  on.     A  happier, 

heartier,  more  wholesome  crowd  it  would  be 


38        LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

impossible  to  imagine.  They  received  us  just 
as  if  we  were  neighbors  who  were  in  the  habit 
of  dropping  in  every  day  for  tennis,  and  while 
the  Count  was  resting  they  invited  us  to  join 
in  a  game.  Before  the  game  was  over,  a  ser- 
vant came  out  ringing  a  big  dinner-bell,  and 
the  party  prepared  to  go  in.  We  were  in 
something  of  a  dilemma,  but  there  was  nothing 
for  it  but  to  say  good-bye.  Imagine  our  sur- 
prise when  we  were  told  that  they  were  ex- 
pecting us  for  dinner,  that  our  places  were  set 
at  table,  and  that  their  father  wouldn't  hear  of 
such  a  thing  as  guests  going  away,  whom  he 
had  invited. 

The  table  was  spread  on  the  piazza,  with 
overhanging  trees  all  about.  There  were  some 
fourteen  or  fifteen  at  the  table,  and  we  were 
the  only  guests.  The  rest  were  all  children 
and  grandchildren  of  the  family.  There  was 
nothing  about  that  meal  to  indicate  the  theories 
that  we  naturally  connect  with  the  name  of 
Tolstoi.  True,  it  was  simple,  but  not  more 
simple  than  a  family  of  culture,  full  of  energy 
and  life,  would  have  in  their  country  home  in 
the  Berkshires  or  Catskllls.  The  Count  did 
have  different  dishes  from  the  rest  of  the 
family,  but  that  was  only  natural  for  a  man  of 
his  age,  and  as  for  the  peasant's  blouse,  it 
was  the  most   appropriate  garment  possible 


THE  YEARS  OF  FULFILLMENT      39 

in  that  sort  of  free  camp-life  that  all  were 
living. 

But  when  Herb  and  the  Count  really  got 
into  conversation,  we  saw  the  other  side  of  his 
nature.  The  clearness  and  the  boldness  of  his 
statements,  the  eye  that  seemed  to  look  straight 
through  one  and  to  comprehend  future  and 
past  all  in  one  view,  and  the  absolute  convic- 
tion of  the  truth  of  what  he  believed,  no  mat- 
ter how  contrary  it  might  be  to  what  all  the 
world  believed,  reminded  one  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment prophets.  What  if  we  couldn't  alto- 
gether agree  with  his  theories.  The  man  was 
magnificent  in  his  honesty,  in  his  conviction  of 
the  truth  of  his  message,  and  in  his  willingness 
to  carry  it  through  to  the  end. 

And  when  we  walked  through  the  fields 
after  supper,  and  saw  the  man  among  his  men, 
his  simple,  natural,  happy  relationship  with  his 
peasants,  saw  the  daughter  of  the  Count  sit- 
ting up  in  the  hay-mow  with  a  peasant's 
daughter,  then  we  felt  that  we  had  seen  the 
real  man,  the  man  above  all  his  theories,  whose 
heart  was  even  greater  than  his  head." 

It  was  experiences  like  this  that  Mr.  Bates 
sought  and  appreciated  in  traveling,  meeting 
men,  learning  from  men,  more  than  seeing  all 
the  sights  in  the  world. 

On  his  other  long  trip,  he  visited  the  Far 


40       LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

East,  with  the  express  purpose  of  meeting  mis- 
sionaries and  seeing  them  at  work.  This  trip 
included  Japan,  Korea,  China,  the  Phihppines, 
and  India.  Among  the  missionaries  whom  he 
met  on  this  tour  he  formed  many  lasting 
friendships.  His  own  tremendous  enthusiasm 
for  the  missionary  movement  was  unbounded, 
and  his  personal  interest  in  the  missionaries 
was  wonderful.  At  Christmas-time  he  never 
failed  to  remember  scores  of  them  with  little 
gifts,  always  including  the  missionary  children 
in  the  Christmas  packages.  Each  year  he  in- 
vited the  newly  appointed  missionaries  of  the 
Presbyterian  Board  to  a  dinner  at  the  Neigh- 
borhood House,  which  was  followed  by  an 
automobile  ride.  Some  years  there  were  forty 
in  the  party.  At  the  Northfield  Student  Con- 
ferences, no  leader  spoke  with  more  fervent 
or  sincere  appeal  to  the  college  men  than  did 
Roswell  Bates,  when  he  asked  them  to  face  the 
great  needs  of  the  foreign  field. 

On  a  beautiful  day  in  early  June  of  1909, 
Mr.  Bates  and  Edith  Talcott,  the  daughter  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  James  Talcott,  of  New  York 
City,  were  married  in  the  Fifth  Avenue  Pres- 
byterian Church.  Although  their  earthly  Hfe 
together  was  limited  to  four  short  years,  no 
one  can  speak  of  that  closing  period  of  his 
life-work    without    mentioning    Mrs.    Bates. 


THE  YEARS  OF  FULFILLMENT      41 

They  were  one  and  inseparable  in  their  love 
and  service  for  the  Spring  Street  Church,  and 
in  their  unselfish  devotion  to  the  needs  of  the 
neighborhood.  Together  they  made  their  home 
the  center  of  a  radiant  life,  and  all  who  entered 
its  portals  felt  the  touch  of  its  influence.  Their 
summer  home,  outside  the  city,  was  thrown 
wide  open  to  Spring  Street  friends.  All  sum- 
mer long  parties  of  children  and  tired  men  and 
women  went  from  the  hot  city  for  a  good 
time  in  the  country.  On  one  Fourth  of  July 
when  the  weather  was  especially  hot,  forty  peo- 
ple slept  in  the  house,  every  available  space  be- 
ing brought  into  use  for  the  guests.  And  into 
such  a  party  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bates  threw  a  spirit 
of  fun  and  friendliness  that  made  every  one 
feel  at  home  from  the  smallest  child  to  the 
old  folks. 

In  December  of  1910  Charlotte  came  to  be 
a  star  of  hope  and  ray  of  light  in  their  lives, 
and  in  the  lives  of  a  host  of  others.  Mr.  Bates' 
love  for  his  baby  girl  was  exquisite.  In  his 
busiest  moments  when  away  at  some  school  or 
college,  preaching  to  crowds  of  students,  he 
often  sat  down  and  turned  his  thoughts  to 
his  little  girl.  The  following  letter  reveals  the 
heart  of  Roswell  Bates  as  a  father: 


42        LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

To  Charlotte  Bates  from   her  Father. 

October  23d,  191 1. 
Dear  little  Girlikins: 

Tomorrow  you  will  be  ten  months  old.  My  what  a 
big  girl  you  are !  and  with  all  your  husky  little  body, 
you  are  the  dearest,  brightest,  cleverest,  sunniest, 
little  youngster  that  ever  I  did  see. 

Please  tell  your  mother  I  wish  you  were  both  with 
me  and  wish  your  dear  Aunt  Ella  had  come  along, 
though  as  Mrs.  Buehler  has  five  guests  I  do  not 
know  where  she  would  have  slept. 

Laugh  hard,  be  my  good  little  Charlotte,  with  a 
kiss  and  a  big  hug  for  mother  and  aunt. 

Your  devoted  father, 

H.  Roswell  Bates. 

And  the  Bates  shared  their  baby  with  others. 
Blessed  be  people  who  share  their  babies  with 
others !  We  have  a  baby  of  our  own  now,  and 
my  wife  and  I  love  our  baby  boy  more  truly, 
because  back  in  Spring  Street  days  we  had 
a  share  in  Charlotte  Bates. 

Just  as  an  instance  of  the  way  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Bates  did  little  acts  of  kindness,  there  comes 
to  mind  a  dear  old  lady,  whose  life  was  lived 
in  a  tiny  attic  room  near  Spring  Street  Church. 
She  had  no  relatives  living,  and  her  friends 
were  all  at  Spring  Street.  Once  she  was 
taken  ill  in  the  heat  of  the  summer,  and  we 
found  her  nearly  dead,  alone  in  her  tiny  room. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bates  had  her  brought  at  once 


The  Father 


THE  YEARS  OF  FULFILLMENT      43 

to  their  summer  home  out  in  the  country,  where 
for  one  month  amid  green  lawns  and  country 
breezes  and  Charlotte's  laughter,  she  was 
restored  to  health  and  strength. 

In  July  of  19 12,  a  son  came  to  add  new 
blessings  to  the  home.  For  Talcott  Bates 
there  was  the  same  outpouring  of  love  as  for 
his  sister.  From  Canada,  in  a  letter  dated  Jan- 
uary 23d,  1913,  his  father  wrote  to  his  baby: 

Dear  little  Boy  Mine: 

O  what  a  joy  to  write  those  four  words!  You 
have  my  heart  all  curled  up  around  your  very  exist- 
ence. I'm  almost  afraid  to  even  let  myself  know 
how  I  love  you.  It  seems  too  wonderful  to  think 
you  are  mine.  My  daily  prayer  is  that  your  dear 
mother  and  I  may  live  to  see  you  and  your  precious 
sister  grow  to  be  a  quarter  of  a  century  old.  We 
want  you  to  have  us  to  help  you  for  I  know  what  it 
means  to  "grow  up"  without  father  or  mother  part 
of  the  way. 

Dear  little  boy  mine — good-night — God  watch 
over  you,  little  sister,  and  big,  big  mother. 

Your  father, 

II.  Roswell  Bates. 

During  Mr.  Bates'  last  years  at  Spring 
Street,  Mrs.  Bates  meant  everything  to  him. 
Whatever  a  wife  could  possibly  do,  she  did. 
She  was  always  available  for  calls,  walks, 
church,  everything,  and  she  poured  into  their 


44        LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

companionship  all  the  strength  and  inspiration 
of  her  heart  and  soul.  And  yet,  during  their 
last  two  years,  she  knew  that  he  was  working 
beyond  his  strength,  he  drove  so  hard  and  had 
so  little  sleep.  When  he  returned  from  speak- 
ing, he  was  often  so  exhausted  that  he  could  not 
stand.  Always  carrying  the  full  weight  of 
others'  sins  and  temptations,  he  gave  his 
strength  to  the  weak  and  his  sympathy  to  the 
suffering,  as  a  person  gives  his  life-blood  to 
renew  the  life  of  another.  This  drain  upon 
his  very  being  was  increasingly  felt.  His 
family  physician  had  insisted  that  no  human 
strength  could  long  endure  such  continuous 
pressure,  and  was  constantly  urging  upon  him 
greater  care.  It  was  only  during  the  last  two 
years  of  his  life  that  Mr.  Bates  would  admit 
that  the  strain  was  beyond  his  strength,  but  he 
saw  no  way  to  change  the  circumstances,  ex- 
cept to  give  up  his  work  at  Spring  Street,  and 
this  he  would  not  do. 

The  summer  before  his  death,  he  went  on  a 
canoe  trip  to  Canada  with  three  friends,  for  an 
absolute  change  and  rest.  He  was  an  experf 
canoeist  himself,  and  loved  the  out-door  life 
of  the  woods  and  streams.  The  wilder  the 
woods,  the  better,  and  so  much  the  better  still 
if  he  could  feel  that  no  one  had  ever  trodden 
that  path  before.  A  friend  says,  "I  can  gee  him 


THE  YEARS  OF  FULFILLMENT      45 

still,  cooking  the  fish  for  dinner,  for  that  was 
a  part  of  the  camp  life  that  he  reserved  as  his 
special  prerogative.  He  had  a  saying  that  no 
one  could  be  counted  a  good  fisherman,  if  he 
left  his  fishing  to  come  in  to  dinner  before  his 
stomach  touched  his  backbone.  No  one  can 
feel  that  he  quite  knows  Herb,  who  hasn't 
seen  him  finally  emerge  from  the  woods  with 
a  two  weeks'  beard,  with  every  article  'of 
clothing  tied  on  to  keep  it  from  falling  off, 
and  with  a  tan  and  a  vigor  that  ought  to  have 
lasted  well  through  the  year  for  any  man  that 
threw  himself  into  his  work  with  less  utter 
abandon  of  soul  and  heart,  as  well  as  strength." 
On  this  last  trip  to  the  woods,  an  incident 
took  place  which  is  related  by  one  of  his  com- 
panions. At  a  camp  where  they  spent  the  night, 
just  before  they  took  the  train  to  come  home, 
a  man  and  a  woman  were  in  charge.  They 
spent  all  the  summer  there  away  from  civiliza- 
tion. The  woman,  especially,  seemed  much 
hardened  by  her  life  in  the  woods.  After  sup- 
per, while  the  rest  were  busy  with  their  packs, 
Mr.  Bates  got  into  conversation  with  the  wo- 
man about  her  religious  life.  He  called  the 
others  in  and  together  they  had  a  service  in 
the  tent,  singing  many  hymns  that  had  been 
familiar  to  her  in  her  childhood.  Mr.  Bates' 
words  and  the  Interest  he  had  shown  In  her. 


46        LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

meant  more  to  her  than  anything  that  had  ever 
come  to  her  in  that  life  in  the  woods.  She  said 
it  was  the  first  time  any  one  had  spoken  to  her 
about  Christ  since  she  had  attended  her  own 
church  long  years  before.  For  Mr.  Bates 
such  interest  and  such  a  service  were  most 
natural,  because  everywhere  he  went  he  felt 
that  he  had  a  message  to  deliver. 


Ill 

SPRING  STREET 


47 


The  Spring  Street  Rally  Song 
Tune — Wacht  Am  Rhine. 

From  youth  to  age,  by  night  by  day, 

For  help  and  knowledge,  work  or  play. 

Spring  Street  with   open   door  has  stood. 

One  purpose  only,  doing  good. 

And  when  the  storms  of  life  roll  high. 

And  sorrows  rise,  temptation's  nigh. 

Her  voice  brings  strength  and  comfort  from  above. 

Spring  Street  we  serve.  Spring  Street  we  love. 

To  raise  the  fallen,  cheer  the  faint, 

To  heal  the  sick  and  lead  the  blind. 

She  follows  in  her  Master's  way, 

And  does  His  very  work  today. 

With  minds  equipped,  with  muscles  strong. 

With  hearts  aglow  with  joyful  song. 

We  pledge  our  loyalty  to  God  above, 

Spring  Street  we'll  serve.  Spring  Street  we'll  love. 

— William  S.  Coffin. 


48 


Ill 

SPRING  STREET 

THERE  are  people  still  living  who  can 
remember  the  day  when  Spring  Street 
was  in  the  center  of  a  residence  district. 
But  things  are  different  now.  Around  the 
old  church  great  factory  buildings  and  ware- 
houses rear  their  lofty  stories,  while  beneath 
them  long  rows  of  tenements  overflow  human- 
ity into  the  crowded  streets.  The  great  fami- 
lies have  moved  far  up-town  and  some  of  the 
churches  went  with  them.  Spring  Street 
stands  today  in  the  great  factory  district  of 
New  York  City,  and  Roswell  Bates  is  the  man 
who  kept  Spring  Street  where  it  is. 

When  Mr.  Bates  was  called  to  this  pastorate 
in  1901,  there  were  many  people  who  predicted 
utter  failure,  and  sincerely  believed  that  it  was 
impossible  to  keep  the  church  alive  in  that  part 
of  the  city.  The  feeling  was  rather  tense  on 
this  point,  for  many  of  the  congregation  who 
had  left  the  neighborhood  wished  to  have  the 
property  sold.  Many  ministers  of  the  Presby- 
tery felt  that  this  was  a  wise  course,  for  most 
49 


50        LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

of  their  own  churches  had  done  the  same  thing. 
But  there  were  in  the  Presbytery  two  men  who 
believed  that  Spring  Street  ought  to  remain 
where  it  was.  One  was  Maltbie  Babcock, 
who  wrote  at  this  time  the  letter  so  much 
prized  by  Mr.  Bates,  urging  him  to  undertake 
the  work.  The  other  man  was  Dr.  George 
Alexander,  who  for  years  had  carried  on  his 
magnificent  work  in  the  University  Place 
Church,  which  pessimists  in  1885  had  declared 
a  forlorn  hope.  As  Mr.  Bates'  nearest  Pres- 
byterian neighbour,  Dr.  Alexander  was  al- 
ways a  true  and  valued  friend. 

To  the  little  group  of  people  who  still  be- 
lieved that  Spring  Street  Church  should  stand 
on  Spring  Street,  Mr.  Bates  sent  the  following 
message,  "If  God  be  with  us  we  shall  succeed, 
I  accept."  For  weeks  they  had  been  holding 
prayer-meetings  in  their  homes,  asking  God  to 
send  them  the  right  man  for  the  church  they 
loved.  When  they  received  this  answer  to 
their  prayers,  they  joyously  responded.  "The 
Lord  hath  done  great  things  for  us,  whereof 
we  are  glad." 

As  the  families  who  were  left  in  the  neigh- 
borhood were  people  of  small  means  and  were 
few  in  number,  there  was  talk  of  making 
Spring  Street  a  ^Mission  Church  under  the 
Presbyterian  Board,  but  Mr.  Bates  objected 


SPRING  STREET  51 

in  no  uncertain  manner.  He  declared  that  he 
would  remain  the  minister  of  the  church,  only 
as  long  as  it  continued  to  be  self-supporting. 
But  it  was  a  hard  fight.  The  loyal  little  group 
who  stood  behind  Mr.  Bates  had  to  sacrifice 
much  that  the  church  might  keep  its  light  burn- 
ing. Some  of  them  went  without  butter,  others 
without  sugar,  and  one  family  used  only  can- 
dles as  light,  that  they  might  have  more  to  give. 
But  Mr.  Bates  had  not  come  to  Spring  Street 
to  preach  the  Gospel  to  saints  only;  and  peo- 
ple who  go  without  butter  and  eggs  for  the 
sake  of  the  Church  of  Christ  surely  have  in- 
visible halos.  Roswe'll  Bates  had  come  to 
Spring  Street  to  reach  the  unchurched  in  the 
neighborhood,  and  there  were  thousands  of 
them.  Especially  did  he  long  to  get  hold  of  the 
young  men.  Soon  after  his  pastorate  began,  he 
sent  personal  letters  to  a  score  of  young  men 
living  in  the  district,  inviting  them  to  a  special 
evening  service.  He  then  prepared  a  sermon  on 
the  text,  "I  have  written  unto  you,  young  men, 
because  ye  are  strong."  When  he  went  into 
the  pulpit  that  Sunday  evening,  he  found  only 
familiar  faces  in  the  pews,  and  these  were 
mostly  of  women.  There  was  one  young  man, 
and  that  young  man  was  up  in  the  rear  gallery 
pumping  the  organ.  Mr.  Bates  has  said  that 
he  never  felt  so  much  like  giving  up  as  he  did 


52        LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

that  night.  Up-town  there  was  a  large  church 
calHng  him  to  be  one  of  its  ministers.  During 
every  year  of  the  twelve  years  of  his  ministry, 
he  received  call  after  call  to  churches  of  far 
greater  wealth  and  larger  membership,  to  posi- 
tions which  offered  him  several  times  his  salary 
at  Spring  Street,  and  once  he  was  offered  a 
professorship  in  a  university.  But  he  stood 
by  his  post.  What  a  testimony  to  the  character 
of  the  man  and  the  underlying  motives  of  his 
ministry !  And  in  the  end  he  won  out.  Spring 
Street  became  a  strong  and  powerful  church 
with  a  membership  of  over  six  hundred. 

There  are  many  examples  of  the  way  in 
which  Roswell  Bates  drew  men  to  Christ.  The 
first  Sunday  that  he  entered  the  pulpit  as  pastor, 
a  note  was  handed  to  him  in  the  Session  Room, 
telling  him  that  a  man  at  the  door  of  the  church 
wished  to  speak  to  him.  It  was  time  for  the 
service  to  begin,  but  Mr.  Bates  hurried  to  the 
door.  There  he  found  a  bitter  enemy  of  the 
church  awaiting  him.  Turning  fiercely  upon 
Mr.  Bates,  he  cursed  him  and  the  ministry  upon 
which  he  was  entering.  A  few  months  later, 
the  young  pastor  of  Spring  Street  had  the  joy 
of  receiving  this  man  into  the  fellowship  of 
the  church,  on  confession  of  his  faith  in  Christ. 

An  outstanding  feature  of  his  ministry  was 
the   dignity   and   reverence,   yet   perfect   sim- 


SPRING  STREET  53 

plicity,  of  the  church  services.  However  rol- 
licking and  full  of  fun  Roswell  Bates  was  out- 
side the  pulpit,  no  man  was  more  dignified  in 
it.  A  youthful  seminary  student,  working  in 
an  up-town  church,  once  made  the  flippant 
remark,  "I  suppose  down  at  Spring  Street 
the  service  is  like  a  Bowery  Mission  meeting 
without  the  reverence  I  like  in  a  church  ser- 
vice." Could  that  youth  have  been  present  on 
a  Sunday  morning,  and  seen  the  gowned  choir 
of  young  women  enter  the  church  singing  the 
processional,  could  he  have  observed  the  beauty 
of  the  whole  order  of  service,  he  would  not 
have  made  such  a  statement.  The  wife  of  a 
clergyman  from  another  part  of  the  country 
remarked,  after  being  at  Spring  Street  one 
Sunday  morning,  that  she  considered  it  a  won- 
derful blessing  to  have  a  church  with  such  an 
impressive  service  in  that  part  of  the  city. 

Mr.  Bates'  preaching  was  always  simple  and 
direct.  He  went  after  the  hearts  of  men. 
There  was  a  peculiar  eloquence  in  his  appeal 
and  his  fund  of  material  in  concrete  illustra- 
tion was  unusual.  He  preached  "J^^us  Christ 
and  Him  crucified,"  and  his  call  was  to  the 
souls  of  men  for  spiritual  and  moral  decision, 
rather  than  for  intellectual  acceptance  of  a 
doctrine. 

As  a  pastor,  Mr.  Bates  longed  to  keep  in 


54        LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

close  touch  with  the  hearts  of  his  people.  This 
became  an  increasingly  hard  problem,  for  the 
church  had  grown  rapidly,  and  its  people  were 
constantly  changing  their  residence,  many  mov- 
ing out  into  the  suburbs  when  their  incomes 
allowed  it.  Mr.  Bates,  and  after  their  mar- 
riage, his  wife  with  him,  set  aside  as  many 
evenings  as  possible  in  order  to  call  on  the 
people,  when  the  men,  who  worked  during  the 
day,  might  be  at  home.  These  calls  were  often 
made  on  evenings  when  Mr.  Bates  was 
physically  worn  out  by  the  constant  demands 
made  upon  his  strength  since  early  morning. 
A  former  worker  wrote  to  the  church  after 
his  death,  "One  event  which  made  a  lasting 
impression  upon  me  I  want  to  share  with  you. 
It  was  during  an  illness  when  we  lived  to- 
gether in  the  Annex  of  the  Neighborhood 
House  and  I  had  been  helping  to  care  for 
him.  One  evening,  as  he  lay  on  his  bed,  he 
asked  me  to  bring  him  his  little  book  which 
contained  the  names  of  all  the  members  of  his 
congregation.  As  he  held  it  in  his  hand,  I  sat 
by  his  side,  and  he  told  me  of  his  love  for  them 
all.  He  said,  T  know  what  it  means  when  I 
read  those  words,  "He  was  a  man  of  sorrows 
and  acquainted  with  griefs,"  for  I  too  have 
tried  to  carry  their  sorrows  and  bear  their 
burdens.'     He  told  me  how  he  used  to  spend 


SPRING  STREET  55 

hours  on  his  knees,  praying  for  each  one  by 
name,  bringing  to  God  their  trials  and  tempta- 
tions. He  said  that  at  first  they  had  been  Hke 
one  great  family,  and  then  he  broke  down,  for 
he  was  very  weak  at  the  time,  as  he  told  how 
the  church  had  grown  so  large  that  he  could 
no  longer  bring  to  God  each  one  by  name,  and 
know  their  burdens  as  he  could  before  his 
work  had  grown  to  such  proportions.  That 
little  talk  gave  me  an  insight  into  the  heart  of 
a  man,  who  was  the  kind  of  minister  I  longed 
to  become-" 

Some  one  once  said  that  he  believed  in  Mr. 
Bates,  because  he  tried  to  live  out  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount,  without  debating  what  the  con- 
sequences might  be,  or  whether  it  was  conven- 
tional. It  was  by  spontaneous  acts  of  kindness 
that  he  became  especially  endeared  to  the 
hearts  of  his  people.  One  morning  after  a 
heavy  fall  of  snow  he  was  late  for  breakfast, 
and  a  friend  afterwards  discovered  that  he 
had  stopped  to  shovel  the  walk  for  a  frail 
woman  living  nearby,  who  had  no  one  to  do 
it  for  her.  Once  when  two  people  were  start- 
ing for  a  visit  to  their  old  home  in  Ireland  with 
their  wee  baby,  and  had  engaged  passage  in  the 
steerage,  Roswell  went  down  to  see  them  off. 
When  the  ship  sailed,  they  discovered  that  he 
had  secured  cabin  accommodations  for  them. 


56        LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

At  one  time,  in  order  to  find  out  just  what  the 
City  Wood-yard,  to  which  he  often  sent  men, 
was  Hke,  he  disguised  himself  as  a  tramp, 
went  there  and  worked,  till  he  was  overcome 
by  the  heat.  He  had  gone  to  the  wood-yard  in 
order  to  learn  whether  or  not  the  statements 
were  true,  which  the  men  made  who  begged  for 
bread  and  work  at  the  Neighborhood  House 
door.  When  they  were  given  tickets  to  the 
wood-yard,  they  had  often  said,  "No  man  in 
our  physical  condition  can  do  the  work.  It  is 
too  hard  for  a  well-fed  man." 

Another  strong  characteristic  of  Mr.  Bates 
was  his  humility.  Whenever  he  had  an  or- 
dained assistant,  he  Insisted  on  putting  him  on 
an  equality  with  himself  in  every  possible  way. 
On  all  church  stationery  their  names  appeared 
together  as  co-pastors  of  the  church,  and  Mr. 
Bates  sought  to  efface  anything  which  made 
himself  prominent.  He  had  the  center  chair 
removed  from  the  pulpit,  and  left  only  the 
two  chairs,  one  on  either  side,  even  when  his 
assistant  was  but  a  seminary  student.  He 
believed  that,  in  the  ministry,  a  man  had  to 
fight  constantly  against  conceit  and  self-praise, 
and  he  requested  his  congregation  and  his 
workers  to  refrain  from  any  congratulatory 
remarks. 

It  was  Mr.  Bates'  custom,  at  the  close  of 


SPRING  STREET  57 

every  service  In  the  church,  to  go  at  once  to  the 
Session  Room,  remove  his  gown,  and  before 
the  congregation  had  left,  to  be  at  the  front 
door  with  warm-hearted,  enthusiastic  hand- 
clasps, and  words  of  cordial  friendliness  for 
all  who  passed  him.  With  what  tenderness  he 
would  take  a  little  child  in  his  arms,  talking 
meanwhile  with  the  mother,  entering  into  all 
the  details  of  their  home-life,  understanding 
their  needs  and  speaking  their  vernacular !  To 
many  of  these  friends  and  parishioners  he  was 
the  very  spirit  of  the  Christ,  for  surely  the 
sound  of  his  voice,  the  touch  of  his  hand,  and 
the  love  within  his  eyes,  had  been  their  first 
glimpse  of  the  Christ  Himself. 

Throughout  the  summer  months,  Spring 
Street  carried  on  tent  meetings  down  on  the 
water  front.  Here,  night  after  night,  the  out- 
casts of  the  city  streets  sat  and  listened  to  the 
Gospel  story,  and  joined  in  hymns  still  dear  to 
many  of  them  through  childhood  memories.  It 
was  not  always  the  man  or  woman  who  had 
been  brought  up  amid  scenes  of  crime  and  dis- 
sipation, who  drifted  Into  that  tent.  During  one 
summer,  fifteen  college  graduates  were  found 
among  those  who  stayed  to  the  after-meetings. 
Many  a  time  Mr.  Bates  came  away  from  that 
meeting,  with  his  arm  around  some  poor 
drunkard,  and  more  than  once  he  has  walked 


58        LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

the  street  for  hours,  helping  some  man  fight 
for  a  victory  over  temptation.  And  the  time 
came  when  he  could  count  among  the  officers 
of  his  church,  and  among  its  honored  members, 
those  who  had  indeed  been  redeemed.  There 
is  more  than  one  man  who  drifted  into  the 
outdoor  meetings  or  into  the  tent,  a  derelict, 
and  far  from  the  Father's  home,  who  today  is 
preaching  in  the  pulpit  of  a  Christian  Church. 

Another  phase  of  the  life  of  the  church  was 
the  work  for  the  Italians,  great  numbers  of 
whom  had  moved  into  the  neighborhood. 
Through  the  help  of  the  Presbytery,  an  Italian 
pastor  was  secured,  and  today  there  is  an 
Italian  congregation  numbering  over  a  hun- 
dred. A  loyal  and  devoted  band  they  have 
proved  to  be.  Mr.  Bates  moved  among  them 
with  the  same  spirit  of  Christlike  love  and 
brotherhood  that  he  had  for  his  English  con- 
gregation, and  Mrs.  Bates  came  nobly  to  his 
assistance  with  her  knowledge  of  the  Italian 
language. 

Soon  after  Mr.  Bates  came  to  Spring  Street, 
he  realized  that,  if  the  church  was  to  live  and 
grow,  it  would  be  necessary  to  broaden  its 
work.  The  congregation,  however,  could  not 
assume  a  heavier  financial  burden  than  was 
already  involved  in  the  support  of  the  church. 
Holding    the    members    responsible    for    the 


SPRING  STREET  59 

management  and  finances  of  the  church,  with 
the  help  of  friends  from  outside,  he  leased 
No.  239  Spring  Street,  and  started  a  Neigh- 
borhood House.  It  was  not  long  before  this 
house  was  crowded  from  top  to  bottom,  with 
a  basement  overflowing  with  clubs  of  boys. 
A  long  lease  could  not  be  obtained,  and  the 
owners  of  the  property  were  unwilling  to  make 
alterations  or  improvements.  The  three-story 
building  was  no  longer  adequate  to  the  needs 
of  Spring  Street.  Through  the  generosity  of 
friends,  and  with  the  help  of  two  mortgages, 
Mr.  Bates  purchased  No.  244  Spring  Street, 
and  started  the  present  Neighborhood  House 
organization,  incorporating  it  in  1905,  under 
the  name  of  the  "Spring  Street  Social  Settle- 
ment," with  a  Board  of  Trustees,  of  which  he 
himself  was  the  President.  A  few  years  later, 
one  of  the  mortgages  was  paid  off,  and  the 
second  one  cancelled,  so  that  the  property  was 
held  free  of  debt. 

No.  244  Spring  Street  consisted  of  a  five- 
story  front  tenement  house,  which  had  two 
stores  on  the  ground  floor,  and  apartments  for 
four  families  on  each  of  the  upper  floors.  In 
the  rear  was  a  three-story  building,  which  had 
housed  four  or  five  families.  The  staircase, 
leading  to  the  second  floor  of  the  front  house, 
was  put  on  the  outside,  on  the  church  property. 


60        LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

and  the  ground  floor  made  into  one  big  room, 
to  be  used  for  the  daily  meetings  of  the  Kinder- 
garten, to  which  about  fifty  children  of  the 
Neighborhood  come,  and  for  other  meetings. 

On  the  second  floor,  there  is  a  Day  Nursery, 
where  mothers  leave  their  babies  from  early 
morning  to  late  afternoon,  with  the  confidence 
that  they  will  be  well  cared  for.  One  room 
contains  the  twenty-five  cots  in  which  the 
babies  sleep.  In  another  room,  is  the  low 
round  table  around  which  they  eat  their  bread 
and  milk,  and  a  third  room  is  used  as  a  play- 
room for  the  older  children. 

A  "model  flat"  takes  up  part  of  the  next 
floor.  It  consists  of  a  few  rooms  similar  to 
those  in  which  most  of  the  people  in  the  neigh- 
borhood live,  fitted  with  inexpensive  furnish- 
ings, and  used  as  club  rooms  for  the  girls.  One 
of  the  rooms  contains  a  small  library  which  is 
used  by  the  children,  and  books  are  circulated 
in  some  of  the  homes.  Another  larger  room 
on  this  floor  is  used  as  the  main  club  room 
for  the  boys.  Other  club  rooms  for  boys  and 
men  are  in  the  Annex  or  rear  building  of  the 
Neighborhood  House. 

One  of  the  great  needs  of  Spring  Street  had 
always  been  a  Gymnasium.  There  was  not 
enough  money  with  which  to  buy  land  and 
build  one,  so  Mr.  Bates  arranged  to  lease  the 


SPRING  STREET  61 

rag-pickers'  factory  in  the  rear  of  242  Spring 
Street,  to  be  used  as  a  Gymnasium.  The  rent 
of  this  building  was  annually  paid  by  the  boys 
of  the  Hill  School. 

Every  day  in  the  week  the  Neighborhood 
House  and  Annex  are  crowded  with  boys  and 
girls,  men  and  women.  There  are  sewing 
clubs,  cooking  clubs,  literary  clubs,  social  clubs, 
debating  clubs,  dramatic  clubs,  clubs  of  every 
kind  for  everybody.  Almost  every  evening 
you  can  hear  the  blare  of  trumpets  from  the 
Boy  Scouts,  for  it  would  be  hard  to  find  in 
all  the  city  a  more  enthusiastic  troop. 

The  house  is  for  the  neighborhood,  and 
the  neighborhood  knows  it.  From  top  to 
bottom  there  is  eager,  active,  happy  life.  Often 
it  pours  into  the  house  in  the  form  of  neglected 
and  erring  childhood,  but  it  generally  goes  out 
to  better,  cleaner  living. 

A  free  Dispensary  is  connected  with  the 
Neighborhood  House,  and  a  nurse  from  the 
New  York  City  Mission  Society  visits  daily 
in  the  homes  of  the  people.  In  addition,  the 
services  of  two  other  trained  workers  are 
given  by  the  City  Mission  Society.  These 
women  spend  all  of  their  time  visiting  in  the 
neighborhood,  and  in  taking  charge  of  such 
important  departments  of  the  work  as  the 
large    weekly    Mothers'    Meeting,    and    the 


62        LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

Fresh-air  work  in  the  summer.  The  leaders 
of  the  clubs  are  young  college  students,  men 
and  women,  some  of  them  living  at  the  Neigh- 
borhood House  and  giving  all  of  their  time  to 
Spring  Street,  others  volunteer  workers  from 
the  colleges  of  the  city,  or  young  graduates  who 
are  in  business  in  New  York.  Hence,  some 
of  the  clubs  bear  the  names  of  the  "Princeton 
Tigers,"  the  "Elis,"  and  the  "Columbia  Blues." 
And  the  heart  and  soul  and  inspiration  of  the 
whole  house  was  always  the  ringing  laugh 
and  hearty  hand-clasp  of  Mr.  Bates. 

The  life  of  the  church  and  Neighborhood 
House  were  closely  intertwined.  Mr.  Bates 
was  the  head-worker  of  the  Neighborhood 
House,  and  gathered  around  him  a  group  of 
young  and  eager  assistants.  Of  this  "family" 
more  will  be  said  later. 

Mr.  Bates  believed  in,  and  carried  to  success- 
ful issue,  a  policy  in  settlement  work  which 
many  social  workers  consider  impossible  of 
success  In  a  Roman  Catholic  or  a  Jewish 
neighborhood,  namely,  the  combining  of  an 
evangelistic  purpose  with  the  settlement  ideal. 
There  are  settlements  where  the  workers  are 
practically  pledged  not  to  mention  the  name  of 
Jesus  Christ,  nor  to  make  any  effort  whatever 
to  evangelize  the  people  of  the  neighborhood. 
At  Spring  Street,  the  soul  and  center  of  every 


SPRING  STREET  63 

club,  and  every  activity  of  the  Neighborhood 
House,  was  to  win  men  and  women  into  a 
deeper  reHgious  faith,  and  that  faith  the  one 
that  is  conquering  the  world,  the  faith  of 
Jesus  Christ.  No  one,  who  ever  worked  at 
Spring  Street  and  entered  into  the  fullness 
of  the  joy  which  pervaded  the  family  of 
workers  in  its  consciousness  of  the  battle  for 
souls,  could  ever  be  satisfied  to  work  where 
lesser  ends  were  sought.  When  the  workers 
of  the  Neighborhood  House  went  into  wretched 
homes,  they  went  not  only  to  bring  food  and 
clothing,  or  to  put  new  furniture  in  the 
rooms;  they  went  to  carry  the  Gospel  of  the 
Living  Christ  to  men  and  women  who  above 
all  else  needed  Him.  And  the  results  were 
what  Christ  taught  His  disciples  that  they 
might  expect  with  such  a  faith.  They  saw 
eyes  blinded  by  sin  and  vice  opened  to  the  light 
of  a  new  life,  they  heard  lips  dumb  through 
long  years  break  forth  into  hymns  of  praise, 
they  saw  lives  that  were  maimed,  deformed, 
and  shrunken,  lifted  up  into  the  fullness  of 
children  of  God. 

Many  are  the  families  for  whom  Mr.  Bates 
has  worked  out  his  ideal.  He  found  one 
mother  starving  to  death  with  her  three  little 
girls,  a  baby  dead  from  starvation  in  her  arms. 
Her  husband  had  died  in  sunny  Italy,  and. 


64        LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

with  no  knowledge  of  the  new  land  or  the 
strange  language,  the  mother  had  come  to 
America  thinking  it  a  Land  of  Promise  for 
her  daughters,  as  the  father  had  told  her  to 
take  them  there.  Mr.  Bates  took  the  mother 
and  three  children  to  the  Neighborhood 
House.  As  she  learned  English,  she  also  learned 
a  new  faith  in  God,  and  her  sunny,  trustful, 
childlike  love  drew  many  nearer  to  the 
Heavenly  Father.  Many  a  college  student 
who  came  to  work  at  Spring  Street  caught 
inspiration  from  her  glad  smile  and  radiant 
faith.  Her  three  daughters  graduated  from 
the  High  School,  one  of  them  taking  a  high 
scholarship  which  admitted  her  to  Barnard 
College,  where  she  is  doing  good  work. 

To  aid  the  people  of  the  parish  in  their 
rights,  which  unscrupulous  landlords  some- 
times tried  to  override,  Mr.  Bates  secured  the 
legal  assistance  of  one  of  the  best  lawyers  in 
the  city,  who  gave  his  help  without  charge 
whenever  his  advice  was  asked.  This  lawyer 
wrote,  "Mr.  Bates  was  one  of  the  very  few 
men  whom  I  held  in  perfect  respect,  and  I  al- 
ways counted  him  a  real  friend  in  the  truest 
sense.  His  work  was  so  far-reaching,  and  of 
such  vital  importance,  and  so  absolutely  un- 
selfish in  its  character,  that  I  always  felt  it 
an  honor  when  he  asked  me  to  serve  him,  or 


SPRING  STREET  65 

one  of  the  many  to  whom  he  ministered.  I 
never  knew  a  man  who  accompHshed  so  much 
happiness  for  others,  and  so  I  feel  that  his  life, 
so  sadly  shortened,  has  been  of  more  value  to 
mankind  in  the  service  of  Christ,  than  that  of 
most  people  who  live  to  be  much  older  in 
years.  I  shall  be  glad  to  serve  the  church 
and  its  people  in  the  future  as  in  the 
past." 

During  the  last  few  years  at  Spring  Street, 
Mr.  Bates  secured  a  summer  home  for  the 
Neighborhood  House  to  which  the  people  of 
the  church  and  the  children  of  the  neighbor- 
hood might  go  for  happy  outings,  while  hun- 
dreds of  Spring  Street  children  were  sent  to 
the  country  each  summer  by  the  Tribune 
Fresh-air  Fund. 

The  worker  in  charge  of  the  summer  home 
the  last  summer  before  his  death,  wrote,  "It 
was  the  most  wonderful  and  beautiful  thing  up 
at  Knollwood  to  see  that  even  the  little  children 
thought  of  Mr.  Bates  in  a  vague  way  as  the 
Guardian  Angel  of  the  spot.  They  thought 
that  he  bought  everything  In  the  place  with 
his  own  hands,  even  the  match  boxes.  Then 
just  the  mention  of  his  name  in  conversation 
with  the  older  people  always  brought  a  light 
to  the  eye,  and  a  smile  to  the  face.  *0h,  he's 
the  best   friend   I   ever  had.'      'He   came   to 


66        LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

me  when  my  little  girl  was  dying.'  'He  has 
always  helped  me  since  my  husband  was  in 
trouble  five  years  ago.'  Always  in  time  of 
struggle  or  of  pain  he  had  seemed  to  be  their 
comforter,  and  had  stayed  with  them  through 
the  ups  and  downs  of  their  hard  lives.  One 
Italian  girl  exclaimed,  'He  is  so  lovely  that 
the  room  is  bright  when  he  is  in  it.'  As  a 
worker  who  was  under  Mr.  Bates,  I  believe 
he  seemed  greater  every  year.  He  had  a  mar- 
velous faculty  for  trusting  you  and  believing 
in  the  best  of  you,  and  yet  he  was  utterly 
sincere,  and  so  efficient  himself,  that  he  made 
us  feel  that  we  must  give  of  our  best  efficiency. 
Until  I  knew  that  he  would  never  see  Knoll- 
wood  again,  I  had  hardly  realized  how  much  he 
had  inspired  me  to  do  my  best.  He  had  a 
fine  ideal  of  what  the  general  purpose  and 
spirit  of  the  place  should  be,  and  also  a 
wonderful  grasp  of  such  matters  as  the 
number  of  servants  needed,  games  for  the 
children,  things  for  house-cleaning,  tastes  of 
guests,  etc.  He  was  a  master  of  practical 
detail." 

In  1912,  a  committee  from  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Canada  visited  the  United  States, 
to  learn  what  was  being  done  along  the  lines 
of  institutional  church  work.  One  of  the  com- 
mittee was  the  celebrated  author.  Dr.  Gordon, 


SPRING  STREET  67 

(Ralph  Connor).  Upon  their  return  to 
Canada,  a  member  of  the  committee  wrote  to 
Mr.  Bates  as  follows:  *''I  take  the  liberty  of 
saying  that,  after  the  Rev.  Dr.  Gordon  and 
Colonel  Thompson  of  Winnipeg,  and  I,  spent 
ten  days  in  the  study  of  the  various  sorts  of 
institutional  work  being  done  in  New  York 
City,  and  having,  as  well,  visited  and  given 
careful  attention  to  various  Hnes  of  work  in 
other  cities,  such  as  Boston  and  Chicago,  we 
were  all  of  the  one  opinion  as  to  the  unique 
character  of  the  work  Spring  Street  Church  and 
Neighborhood  House,  under  your  able  leader- 
ship, are  accomplishing.  I  have  found,  also, 
that  this  opinion  is  shared  by  a  large  circle, 
rapidly  extending,  in  various  parts  of  both  the 
United  States  and  Canada.  You  are  coming 
to  be  regarded  as  holding  a  unique  place,  as 
a  pioneer  of  the  best  method  of  facing  the  de- 
plorable conditions  in  the  most  difficult  part 
of  our  great  cities. 

"Two  serious  mistakes  are  being  made  by 
opposite  groups  of  Christian  workers. 

"First :  There  are  those  who  confine  their  ef- 
forts absolutely  to  evangelistic  services,  aim- 
ing at  the  reclaiming  of  human  wreckage.  This 
is  a  blessed  work  and  a  Christlike  work,  but 
after  all,  it  does  not  reach  beyond  a  small  num- 
ber of  wrecked  lives,  and  it  does  absolutely 


68       LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

nothing  to  prevent  the  wholesale  continuance 
in  operation  of  the  forces  that  make  for  wreck- 
age. 

"Second :  Those  who  eliminate  almost  wholly 
the  Evangel  out  of  their  mission  and  message, 
and  confine  their  attention  to  efforts  aimed  at 
the  righting  of  wrong  conditions  and  at  the 
transforming  of  the  prevailing  environment, 
without  attempting,  by  Divine  Grace,  the  re- 
generation of  individual  lives. 

"We  who  are  charged  with  special  responsi- 
bility in  these  special  lines  of  endeavor,  for  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Canada,  are  unani- 
mously of  the  opinion  that  the  course  you  have 
taken  is  the  one  that  gives  the  largest  results 
and  the  most  enduring  results,  namely,  the 
union  of  thoroughgoing  New  Testament 
Evangelism,  aiming  at  the  transforming  by 
the  grace  of  God  of  each  individual  heart  and 
life,  and  Social  Service,  aiming  at  the  opening 
of  the  door  of  these  hearts  for  the  Evangel, 
and  at  the  improving  of  the  environment  in 
which  these  lives  are  to  be  lived;  but  what  is 
more  important  than  the  fact  that  this  union 
of  these  two  lines  of  endeavor  gives  the  best 
and  most  enduring  results,  is  the  fact  that  it  Is 
the  method  that  our  Blessed  Master  followed, 
as  the  Gospel  records  show.  As  we  re-read  the 
New  Testament,  we  cannot  avoid  the  convic- 


SPRING  STREET  69 

tion,  that  in  uniting  Evangelism  and  Social 
Service,  as  you  are  doing  so  splendidly  in 
Spring  Street  Church,  we  are  not  trying  any- 
thing new,  but  getting  back  to  the  original 
method  sanctioned  by  the  personal  example 
and  by  the  teaching  of  the  Lord  Jesus;  and 
surely  that  is  the  all-supreme  test." 

Thus  did  Roswell  Bates  bring  into  a  neigh- 
borhood, not  merely  a  social  center  in  the 
form  of  teas  and  clubs,  but  a  center  of  regen- 
erating power  and  the  Evangel  of  a  Living 
Faith.  In  the  words  of  Mrs.  Meigs  of  the  Hill 
School,  *'He  had  a  passion  not  only  for  the 
redemption  of  souls,  but  in  addition,  he  had  a: 
passion  for  the  happiness  of  souls.  It  is  be- 
cause he  longed  to  bring  brightness  into  dreary 
lives,  to  lift  heavy  burdens  from  feeble 
shoulders,  and  to  gladden  the  hearts  of  little 
children,  that  he  gave  himself  so  unreservedly 
to  his  work  at  Spring  Street.  He  took  one  of 
the  neglected  corners  of  the  great  city  and 
poured  his  life  blood  into  it,  giving  not  only 
the  thoughts  of  his  mind  and  the  ministrations 
of  his  hands,  but  himself,  the  very  heart  and 
soul  of  the  man.  He  lived  with  and  for  the 
people  who  came  to  him  for  help,  or  to  whom 
he  went  to  give  succour,  and  he  entered  into  the 
innermost  sanctuary  of  human  hearts,  and  lives, 
and  homes.     Roswell  Bates  has  run  his  race 


70        LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

with  a  swifter  pace  than  most  of  us,  but  he 
has  Hghted  a  torch,  and  placed  it  in  other  hands 
that  they  might  go  forward,  carrying  the  Hght 
he  Ht  to  darkened  homes  and  shadowed  hearts ; 
that  they  may  give,  as  he  gave,  the  message  of 
God's  love  to  humanity;  that  they  may  lift  up, 
as  he  lifted  up,  the  Cross  of  Christ,  that  all 
may  be  drawn  unto  Him  Whose  he  was  and 
Whom  he  served. 

"To  have  wrought  as  he  wrought;  to  have 
loved  as  he  loved ;  to  be  loved  as  he  is  loved ; 
to  have  opened  the  eyes  of  those  blind  to  God's 
truth;  to  have  unstopped  the  ears  of  those 
who  were  deaf  to  God's  voice;  to  have  awak- 
ened the  spirits  of  those  dead  in  trespasses  and 
sins;  to  have  made  crooked  things  straight 
and  dark  places  light,  is  truly  to  have  lived 
and  divinely  to  have  achieved.  No  one  of  us 
would  call  him  back  to  the  limited  fields  of 
this  earth  of  ours  when  he  has  entered  upon  the 
illimitable  stretches  of  life  eternal  where,  as 
Phillips  Brooks  said,  'They  shall  do  their  work 
with  angelic  ease,  for  the  heavenly  task  shall 
make  heavenly  men  with  heavenly  strength.'  " 

God  has  called  him  to  those  heavenly  tasks 
in  fairer  fields  than  ours,  but  the  work  he 
wrought  is  not  to  cease,  the  torch  he  carried 
forward  eager  hands  have  taken  up,  and  the 
doors  of  Spring  Street  Church  and  the  Neigh- 


SPRING  STREET  71 

borhood  House  remain  wide  open  for  the 
Master's  service.  For  the  life  of  Roswell 
Bates'  earthly  ministry  goes  on,  because  it  was 
the  deathless  life  of  the  Eternal  Christ. 


IV 

THE  NEIGHBORHOOD-HOUSE 
FAMILY 


73 


We  fight  to  win,  for  we  fight  with  God  for 
His  children. 

— Jacob  A.   Riis. 

//  is  great  to  be  out  where  the  fight  is  strong, 
To  be  where  the  heaviest  troops  belong. 
And  to  fight  for  man  and  God! 

Oh,  it  seams  the  face  and  it  dries  the  brain. 
It  strains  the  arm  till  one's  friend  is  Pain. 
In  the  fight  for  man  and  God! 

But  it's  great  to  be  out  zuhere  the  fight  is  strong. 
To  be  where  the  heaviest  troops  belong. 
And  to  fight  for  man  and  God. 

— Cleland  B.  McAfee. 


74 


IV 

THE  NEIGHBORHOOD-HOUSE 

FAMILY 

IT  was  the  noon  meal  at  the  Neighborhood 
House.  Around  the  table  in  the  dining- 
room  was  seated  a  group  of  young  people, 
engaged  in  animated  conversation.  There  were 
ten  of  them  in  all,  and  they  represented  as 
many  different  colleges  in  the  East  and  Mid- 
dle West.  At  the  end  of  the  table  where  the 
conversation  was  most  heated  the  voice  of  Mr. 
Bates  could  be  heard,  full  of  an  earnestness 
which  was  in  distinct  contrast  to  the  twinkle 
in  his  eyes  and  the  kick  under  the  table  he  was 
giving  to  another  worker.  "Now,  really,  don't 
you  think  it  would  be  just  great  to  have  the 
city  establish  a  free  lemonade  depot  on  every 
street?  Just  think  of  what  it  would  mean  to 
the  babies,  too!  Then  their  mothers  would 
feed  them  lemonade  instead  of  tea  or  beer,  and 
I  am  sure  It  would  be  more  healthy."  Just 
then,  as  his  quick  ear  detected  a  conversation 
at  the  other  end  of  the  table  centering  around 
Fresh-air  Work  (a  forbidden  subject  at  meals, 

75 


76        LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

just  as  all  conversation  regarding  the  day's 
routine  was  prohibited  at  meal-time)  he  ad- 
dressed the  leader  of  the  discussion:  "By  the 
way,  Frank,  that's  an  awfully  sporty  tie  you're 
wearing  this  morning.  And  I'll  bet  your  socks 
are  a  vivid  green.  We'll  never  make  a  mis- 
sionary out  of  you.  Any  man  that  will  wear 
orange  ties  and  green  socks!"  Then  "I  beg 
your  pardon,"  he  said,  turning  to  a  young 
Wellesley  graduate,  dignified  by  the  title  of 
"Resident  in  Charge,"  on  whose  face  he  had 
seen  a  look  of  annoyance.    "You  know  I  hate 

to  mention  socks  at   the  table  myself " 

Hereupon  a  young  man  seated  on  his  right 
broke  out  with,  "Say,  Herb,  is  Mrs.  Regan 
O.  K.  ?  I  let  her  have  $2.00  yesterday  for 
an  apple-stand  license."  A  roar  of  laughter 
greeted  this  remark,  while  Herb  threw  up  his 
hands  in  mock  despair.  The  Ohio  chap  had 
just  arrived  at  the  Neighborhood  House  that 
week  and  was  new  to  it  all.  "Jack,  do  you 
mean  to  tell  me  that  you  gave  Mrs.  Regan 
$2.00?"  "But  she  cried  so,  and  told  me  the 
most  pathetic  story."  A  more  sophisticated 
member  of  the  company  slyly  queried,  "iWere 
her  children  dying,  or  her  husband  sick  and 
out  of  work?"  "Both,"  ejaculated  the  Wes- 
leyan.  "Well,  after  dinner  you  just  run  over 
to  236  and  see  if  her  husband  isn't  the  husk- 


NEIGHBORHOOD-HOUSE  FAMILY    77 

iest  sick  man  you  ever  saw,  and  as  for  Jimmy 
and  Mary,  I  wish  you  could  have  seen  them 
in  my  club  last  night!"  From  the  Regans,  the 
conversation  drifted  on  to  Woman  Suffrage, 
of  which  Mr.  Bates  was  an  ardent  supporter, 
and  there  followed  a  spirited  debate,  six  to 
four  in  favor  of  suffrage. 

The  young  people  around  the  table  were  a 
typical  group  of  Spring  Street  workers — "the 
Family,"  as  they  always  called  themselves.  !A! 
quality  of  friendship  apparent  in  that  little 
circle  made  it  stand  out  unique  in  the  lives 
of  those  who  were  privileged  to  share  its  fel- 
lowship. Mr.  Bates  was  always  the  heart  and 
center  of  it  all,  guiding,  strengthening,  en- 
couraging them  with  his  own  indomitable  will 
and  sterling  loyalty,  till  they  longed  to  know 
as  he  knew,  and  work  as  he  worked,  in  the 
Master's  service.  As  the  years  passed,  the 
membership  of  the  group  was  changed,  but 
the  spirit  remained  the  same.  During  those 
twelve  short  years  at  Spring  Street,  Mr.  Bates 
drew  around  him  more  than  two  hundred 
young  people  as  workers,  some  of  them  for 
a  Christmas  or  Spring  vacation  away  from 
their  college  classes,  and  many  of  them  as 
resident  workers  who  spent  months  or  years 
at  the  Neighborhood  House.  These  young 
men  and  women  are  out  in  the  world  now; 


78        LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

three  of  them  are  in  China,  two  are  in  Turkey, 
one  is  in  India,  four  more  sail  for  the  foreign 
field  within  a  year,  and  others  expect  to  sail  at 
the  completion  of  medical  and  seminary 
courses.  Four  others  are  ministers  of  New 
York  City  churches,  and  more  than  twenty  are 
serving  Christ  in  the  ministry  throughout  the 
United  States  and  Canada;  and  not  the  least 
of  the  old  Spring  Street  group  are  those  who 
have  taken  their  ideals  out  into  the  business 
world. 

One  of  these  latter  was  called  to  a  splendid 
position  in  a  large  firm  in  a  western  city.  In 
a  short  time  he  discovered  that  all  was  not 
right.  The  goods  he  was  selling  were  not 
what  they  were  advertised  to  be.  He  went  to 
the  president  of  the  firm  and  told  him  that  as 
a  Christian  he  could  not  continue  to  be  a  sales- 
man for  the  firm,  unless  the  goods  were  just 
what  they  were  stated  to  be  in  the  salesbooks. 
The  president,  himself  an  officer  In  a  church 
of  the  city,  turned  upon  the  young  man  and 
said,  "Were  we  to  adopt  your  policy  we  should 
fail.  All  the  other  firms  which  sell  these  goods 
do  this."  The  young  man  resigned.  A  few 
days  later  he  received  a  note  from  the  presi- 
dent asking  him  to  call  at  his  office.  When 
he  reached  the  office  and  the  door  was  closed, 
the  older  man  turned  to  the  younger,  and  said : 


NEIGHBORHOOD-HOUSE  FAMILY    79 

"Young  man,  you  may  cost  this  firm  a  good 
deal  of  money,  but  you  have  meant  more  than 
money  to  me.  We  are  going  to  sell  goods  just 
as  they  are  advertized."  Then,  asking  the  young 
salesman  to  kneel  with  him,  he  said :  "Oh  God, 
I  may  fail,  but  if  I  do,  I  fail  trying  to  follow 
the  right  as  I  have  been  given  to  see  it."  The 
firm  has  not  failed  as  yet. 

On  the  walls  of  the  Neighborhood  House 
there  hangs  a  picture  presented  to  Mr.  Bates 
by  Jacob  A.  Riis  at  the  time  the  house  was 
opened,  and  on  the  lower  margin  in  the  hand- 
writing of  Mr.  Riis  are  these  words :  "We  fight 
to  win,  for  we  fight  with  God  for  His  chil- 
dren." These  words  were  often  on  the  lips  of 
Mr.  Bates,  and  were  so  exemplified  in  his  life 
that  his  workers  caught  the  spirit  and  took 
this  slogan  as  their  own. 

A  young  minister  who  turned  away  from 
the  opening  before  him  in  a  large  and  wealthy 
church,  to  give  all  of  his  time  to  building  up 
a  group  of  churches  among  the  immigrants 
of  New  York  City,  writes :  "We  who  have  been 
of  the  Spring  Street  family  know  in  our 
hearts  as  no  one  else  can  tell  us  what  its  head 
meant  to  us.  He  was  peculiarly  ours.  No 
one  ever  really  knew  Mr,  Bates  who  knew  him 
apart  from  Spring  Street.  I  can  never  think 
of  him  without  thinking  'Spring  Street,'  nor 


80        LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

can  anyone  now,  or  even  in  the  coming  years, 
think  of  Spring  Street  apart  from  him  and 
his  abiding  influence.  Mr.  Bates  never  al- 
lowed us  to  forget  that  we  here  were  a  bat- 
talion in  the  great  army  of  God,  organized  for 
warfare,  defending  our  faith  best  by  aggres- 
sive attack  where  the  hosts  of  sin  seemed 
strongest.  I  owe  a  deep  gratitude  to  many 
forces  besides  my  upbringing  at  home  in 
training  me  for  my  present  work,  but  of  them 
all  I  owe  most  to  Spring  Street  and  to  what 
I  learned  there." 

Another  old  Spring-Streeter,  now  under  ap- 
pointment to  take  charge  of  an  entire  island  in 
the  Philippines  group  as  his  missionary  parish, 
says  of  the  year  he  spent  at  Spring  Street :  "I 
was  a  fearful  combination  of  egotism,  as- 
ceticism, selfishness  and  pessimism,  when  I 
first  met  Mr.  Bates,  and  I  think  he  asked  me 
to  work  at  Spring  Street  because  he  saw  that 
I  needed  work  done  on  me.  He  did  his  best 
for  me,  and  it  was  not  his  fault  if  he  failed.  I 
never  had  about  me  such  a  kindly  body  of 
persons  as  those  whom  Mr.  Bates  had  gathered 
at  Spring  Street,  and  I  know  I  shall  never  be 
in  such  a  company  again.  As  I  look  back 
upon  that  year,  I  think  there  was  a  change  in 
me.  Awkwardly,  as  one  who  never  tried  be- 
fore, I  essayed  little  acts  of  kindness,  and  I 


NEIGHBOEHOOD-HOUSE  FAMILY    81 

was  woefully  jealous  that  others  could  do 
them  so  much  better  than  I.  The  spirit  of  Mr. 
Bates  seemed  to  have  caught  all  of  us.  He 
gave  Christianity  a  unique  shade,  a  peculiar 
tint  not  to  be  found  elsewhere.  Spring  Street 
was  not  quite  mortal  or  human.  The  first 
time  I  ever  saw  those  mercury  electric  lights, 
which  are  now  so  common,  I  wondered  if 
heaven  were  about  that  color.  Spring  Street 
has  always  seemed  to  me  to  have  that  ultra- 
violet, other-wordly,  halo  about  it.  It  was 
better  than  real  life,  and  vastly  sweeter;  it  was 
too  good  to  be  true,  yet  it  was  true.  One 
could  not  have  Christianity  knocked  out  of 
him  by  a  thousand  years  of  German  philoso- 
phy after  one  year  at  Spring  Street.  However 
scientifically  inconclusive  it  may  be,  Christian- 
ity worked  at  Spring  Street.  It  was  a  fact 
there.  It  was  a  fact  in  Mr.  Bates.  One  caught 
a  peculiar  conviction  that  this  unseen  some- 
thing has  power  to  capture  the  world  as  one 
saw  it  catching  life  after  life,  where  it  shone 
even  as  it  shone  in  the  life  of  Mr.  Bates.  As 
I  have  longed  for  the  speedy  regeneration  of 
the  world  and  wondered  how  it  could  best  be 
accomplished,  I  have  found  myself  Imagining 
a  Roswell  Bates  settled  in  every  other  block 
in  every  town.  Nobody  who  ever  knew  him 
doubts  that  that  would  do  it." 


82       LIFE  OF  H,  ROSWELL  BATES 

In  a  letter  to  another  Spring- Streeter, 
written  a  few  months  before  Mr.  Bates'  death, 
there  is  the  tribute  of  one  right  in  the  fight, 
who  wrote  from  her  heart,  "I  am  trying  hard 
to  keep  Mr.  Bates  from  breaking  down,  but 
the  task  is  not  an  easy  one.  I  am  up  to  my 
eyes  in  work,  but  how  I  love  it  more  and  more 
all  the  time.  My  idea  of  heaven  is  getting 
to  be  a  place  where  there  is  a  perpetual  Spring 
Street  in  which  to  live  and  work." 

Another  young  woman  has  expressed  what 
was  in  the  hearts  of  all  of  us  who  worked  at 
Spring  Street,  many  and  many  a  time.  "It 
wasn't  always  the  things  Mr.  Bates  was  that  en- 
deared him  to  his  workers,  but  often  the  things 
he  so  blessedly  wasn't.  When  I  saw  him  the  first 
time  after  a  short  absence  from  Spring  Street 
he  didn't  give  me  a  formal  greeting,  as  I  fear 
most  pastors  would  have  done,  but  said,  'Why, 
bless  your  heart!'  and  shook  hands  in  a  way 
that  made  you  know  he  meant  every  word  of 
it.    He  hked  us,  he  really  did." 

There  is  a  reference  made  by  one  of  his 
workers  to  a  phase  of  Spring  Street  which 
drew  us  into  very  intimate  knowledge  of  the 
inner  life  of  Roswell  Bates.  Each  week  we 
had  our  ^'Workers'  Meeting."  Whatever  else 
we  missed,  we  had  to  be  at  that  meeting.  Be- 
fore we  discussed  together  the  work  of  the 


NEIGHBORHOOD-HOUSE  FAMILY    83 

week  and  made  plans  for  the  days  to  come, 
Mr.  Bates  himself  always  conducted  a  per- 
sonal talk  on  the  realities  of  spiritual  forces. 
No  one,  who  sat  week  by  week  in  that  circle 
and  heard  him  talk  to  us  of  the  power  of  his 
faith,  ever  doubted  the  reality  of  that  faith. 
He  always  closed  that  conversation,  which  he 
generally  based  on  some  Scripture  passage,  by 
having  us  all  kneel  down  and  expecting  each 
to  offer  prayer.  This  worker  writes,  "Our 
prayers  at  Workers'  Meeting  may  have  been 
an  agony  to  some  of  us — they  were  to  me — 
but  when  it  came  right  down  to  it,  they  were 
not  offered  to  any  immediate  audience,  but  to 
a  Friend  Whom  Mr.  Bates  had  taught  us  to 
know  and  love." 

Not  only  in  groups,  but  in  individual  fellow- 
ship, did  Mr.  Bates  draw  his  workers  into  the 
same  intimate  communion  with  God  that  he 
himself  experienced.  Many  a  man  could  tell 
the  story  written  by  one  of  the  workers  of  Mr. 
Bates'  last  year  at  Spring  Street.  "The  more 
one  knew  him,  the  more  one  loved  him.  I  am 
sure  that  was  the  common  experience.  I  spent 
one  night  with  him  alone  at  his  home,  and  it 
all  seems  as  real  to  me  as  If  it  took  place 
yesterday,  the  kneeling  together  in  prayer  at 
the  bedside,  the  talk  which  lasted  far  into  the 
night,  our  beds  pushed  close  together,  and  Mr. 


84       LIFE  OF  H.  EOSWELL  BATES 

Bates  reaching  his  hand  out  in  the  darkness 
to  mine.  At  another  time  three  of  us  were  to- 
gether. Before  we  retired,  Mr.  Bates  called 
us  to  his  bedside,  and  kneeling  between  us 
placed  an  arm  across  the  shoulders  of  each,  as 
we  joined  in  prayer.  Somehow  we  went  to 
rest  after  that  experience  more  secure  In  God's 
love  and  more  filled  with  His  peffC€." 

After  their  marriage,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bates 
dedicated  their  home  to  this  same  ideal  of  per- 
sonal influence  for  Christ.  Their  home  was 
always  open,  and  the  following  is  only  one  il- 
lustration of  an  experience  which  took  place 
many  times.  A  former  member  of  the  Neigh- 
borhood House  family  writes,  "Herb  seemed 
to  see  into  a  man's  heart  and  feel  for  him.  I 
remember  one  Sunday  afternoon  when  I  was 
trying  to  conduct  the  'Happy  Gospel  Hour' 
(which  for  me  was  often  anything  but 
'happy')  while  Herb  was  in  the  room  observ- 
ing all  that  was  going  on.  During  my  story 
things  went  fairly  well,  but  my  inexperience 
with  such  affairs  was  well  demonstrated  in 
the  final  wind-up,  for  I  made  an  awful  mess 
of  it.  The  kids  broke  loose  from  my  control 
and  were  noisily  'beating  it'  for  the  door  be- 
fore the  service  was  supposed  to  be  over,  I 
felt  humiliated  more  than  ever,  to  have  had  it 
happen  while  Herb  was  present.     I  fully  ex- 


NEIGHBORHOOD-HOUSE  FAMILY    85 

pected  that  he  would  give  me  the  tip  that  I 
must  take  a  brace  with  that  Happy  Hour,  and 
I  surely  thought  the  calling  down  was  com- 
ing, when  that  night  after  supper  Herb  called 
me  out  into  the  hall.  Instead  of  what  I  ex- 
pected, I  received  an  invitation  to  go  home  with 
him  and  spend  the  night  and  get  a  good  rest. 
Perhaps  he  knew  that  my  error  was  only  too 
manifest  to  myself,  and  that  a  little  change 
and  rest  would  do  me  good.  Anyway,  I  went 
home  with  him  and  before  going  to  bed  had, 
in  prayer  with  him  and  his  wife,  one  of  those 
experiences  that  I  love  to  go  back  to  in 
memory,  as  to  a  place  in  life's  journey  where 
God  was  very,  very  near,  and  where  the  fel- 
lowship of  His  servants  was  worth  all  the 
world.  Herb  meant  a  great  deal  to  me.  I 
guess  I  can  only  pay  it  back  by  trying  to  play 
the  game  better." 

It  is  difficult  to  bring  these  testimonies  to  a 
close.  Before  me  lies  a  pile  of  letters  from  old 
Spring-Streeters,  still  unused.  It  has  been 
hard  to  choose  from  so  many,  all  bearing  wit- 
ness to  the  same  great  central  fact,  love  for 
Mr.  Bates  and  Spring  Street,  and  the  joy  of 
the  fight  God  has  given  to  each  one. 

Mr.  Bates'  love  for  them  never  ceased.  He 
'followed  them  out  into  life  as  if  they  were  his 
children;  he  shared  their  joys  and  their  sor- 


86        LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

rows.  If  the  following  extracts  from  letters 
he  himself  wrote  to  some  of  his  workers  seem 
too  personal  for  the  outside  world,  they  are 
given,  that  those  who  knew  and  loved  him  in 
the  Spring  Street  family,  may  share  and  renew 
the  old  sweet  fellowship.  A  word  of  apprecia- 
tion from  him  meant  more  than  many  words 
from  others. 

He  relieved  the  doubt  in  the  mind  of  one 
worker,  who  had  been  at  Spring  Street  only  a 
few  months,  and  who  was  appalled  by  the  big- 
ness of  the  task,  by  sending  at  Christmas-time 
a  card  which  read:  "A  more  helpful  associate 
I  could  not  ask  for.  This  is  just  to  say  I  do 
appreciate  all  that  you  are  doing — and  so  does 
Edith." 

In  a  letter  to  a  college  girl  who  was  working 
at  Spring  Street  for  the  summer,  who  had 
courageously  spoken  at  one  of  the  large  out- 
door meetings,  he  wrote : 

Brantwood  Hall, 
August  nth,  191 1. 
My  dear  Miss  Hull: 

Ever  since  Sunday  I  have  intended  to  tell  yo« 
how  much  your  out-door  talk  meant.  Often  I  shall 
quote  your  very  words,  as  I  have  even  done  already. 
Your  earnest  devotion  has  been  an  inspiration,  just 
as  your  happy  way  of  doing  things  has  been  re- 
freshing to  us  all.  You  have  meant  much  to  our 
House  family.    If  ever  the  time  comes  when  you 


NEIGHBORHOOD-HOUSE  FAMILY    87 

would  be  willing  to  work  in  a  Settlement  (at  starva- 
tion salary)  just  let  me  know. 

Please  tell  each  of  the  workers  the  door  here 
stands  wide  open.  Tell  them  to  come  up  every  day 
they  can,  and  pull  it  to.  The  tennis  coart  will  be 
free  and  a  room  will  be  always  ready. 

I  hope  that  some  day  we  may  be  fellow-workers  at 
Spring  Street. 
Mrs.  Bates  sends  her  warm  love. 

Believe  me  always, 

Very  sincerely  yoars, 
H.  RoswELL  Bates. 

To  another  worker,  who  had  just  lost  a 
father,  he  wrote,  "Sorrow  to  me,  in  proportion 
to  its  greatness,  has  meant  much.  Never  has 
Christ  revealed  Himself  so  personally  or  lov- 
ingly, as  in  the  days  when  passing  through  the 
Valley  of  the  Shadow.  Out  of  great  tribula- 
tion come  strength,  and  bravery,  and  gentle- 
ness, and  the  peace  which  passeth  understand- 
ing." 

When  his  former  workers  sailed  for  the 
foreign  field,  Mr.  Bates  was  always  at  the  boat 
to  see  them  off,  his  cheery  voice  strengthening 
and  encouraging  them  in  the  hard  moment  of 
parting.  The  night  before  Mrs.  Harlow  and 
I  left  for  Turkey  he  took  me  to  his  home.  His 
prayer  with  his  arm  around  me,  as  we  knelt 
together,  his  last  words  of  love  and  inspira- 
tion, had  in  them  that  deathless  spirit  of  devo- 


88        LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

tion  to  duty  which  time  cannot  dim.  If  only 
ministers  who  have  young  workers  in  their 
churches  would  earnestly  try,  as  he  did,  to 
mean  something  real  in  their  lives,  many  a 
man  and  woman  would  go  out  to  their  life- 
work  with  more  unswerving  devotion  to  the 
cause  of  their  Lord  and  Master. 

What  a  great  loving  heart  shines  in  these 
words  from  a  steamer  letter  written  to  two 
of  his  workers: 

Dear,  dear   Beloveds: 

I  have  tried  to  write,  but  I  cannot.  I  have  tried  to 
be  funny,  but  it  is  impossible.  Your  faces  will  always 
be  with  me  though  you  are  far  away.  My  love,  my 
heart,  goes  with  you.  My  prayers,  night  and  day, 
will  follow  you.    You  will  always  be  tugging  away 

at  my  best  self  and  helping  me. 

Devotedly, 

Herb. 

To  this  same  young  couple  he  wrote  later, 
"You  two  dear  kids ;  I  wish  I  had  you  both  in 
my  arms  this  minute.  I  suppose  if  I  had  you 
both  at  once  there  could  be  no  scandal  about 
it.  Yes,  our  friendship  has  been  wonderful. 
You  have  known  me  at  my  worst,  and  have 
still  believed  in  me  and  loved  me,  and  that 
surely  is  a  wonder." 

To  the  little  son  of  two  of  his  former  work- 
ers he  wrote : 


NEIGHBORHOOD-HOUSE  FAMILY    89 

244  Spring  Street, 
April  I2th,  1913. 
Dear  John: 

So  yoar  father  and  mother  think  you  are  the 
equal  of  our  small  boy.  Well,  let  them  keep  right 
on  thinking  so,  but  though  you  cannot  begin  to  touch 
our  boy,  I  know  you  are  the  dearest  boy  in  Asia, 
and  I  know  I  love  you  half  to  death,  though  I 
haven't  laid  eyes  on  you.  If  you  look  like  your 
father,  I  know  you  are  very  pretty,  and  I  wonder  if 
you  have  the  dangling  curls  your  father  used  to 
have  when  they  called  him  'the  darling  little  boy.' 

I  put  three  slices  of  love  in  this  letter,  one  for  your 
mother,  and  one  for  your  father,  but  the  biggest  is 
for  you.  I  like  to  send  love,  for  you  don't  have  to 
pay  duty  on  it,  and  when  I  know  anyone  as  I  do 
your  father  and  mother,  it  is  very  easy  to  send  it  in 
bunches. 

Devotedly, 

Your  ancle, 
Herb. 

In  the  years  to  come  other  workers  will 
gather  around  the  table  in  the  Neighborhood- 
House  dining-room,  for  the  spirit  which  Ros- 
well  Bates  revealed  to  Spring  Street  is  not 
dependent  upon  the  earthly  presence  of  a  man. 
It  is  the  spirit  of  the  ever-working,  ever-liv- 
ing, ever-present  Christ. 


V 

FAITHFUL  UNTO  DEATH 


91 


Yea,  though  I  walk  through  the  valley  of 
the  shadow  of  death,  I  will  fear  no  evil;  for 
Thou  art  with  me. 

— Psalm  23. 

Greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this,  that 
a  man  lay  down  his  life  for  his  friends. 

—John  15:  13. 


92 


V 

FAITHFUL  UNTO  DEATH 

THE  story  of  Daisy  Lopez  is  one  which 
reveals  Mr,  Bates'  insight  into  hidden 
values  in  the  lives  of  those  vi^ith  whom 
he  came  in  contact.  Not  only  among  men  and 
women  of  university  training  did  he  see  the 
capacity  for  growing  into  the  image  of  his 
Lord  and  Master,  but  he  saw  those  same  values 
in  lives  shut  in  by  walls  of  darkened  attic 
rooms  in  tenements,  or  lives  losing  moral  bat- 
tles on  the  corners  of  the  city  streets.  In  this 
he  was  like  the  Master  whom  he  served.  The 
story  of  Daisy  Lopez  is  not  chosen  because  the 
transformation  of  her  life  from  a  little 
orphaned  street  waif  into  an  earnest  worker 
in  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society  and  Sunday 
School  of  Spring  Street  Church  is  any  more 
wonderful  as  a  testimony  to  the  power  of 
Christ,  than  many  another  story  in  connection 
with  the  personal  work  of  Mr.  Bates  among 
the  tenements  of  lower  New  York.  This  story 
is  chosen  because  of  the  miraculous  swiftness 
of  her  transformation,  and  because  she  bore 

93 


94        LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

heroic  witness  to  the  steadfastness  of  her  faith 
in  a  tragic  death,  when  she  might  have  chosen 
life  instead  of  suffering  and  pain. 

The  first  time  that  Roswell  Bates  saw  Daisy 
Lopez,  she  was  just  a  waif  of  the  streets,  with 
a  soiled  and  tattered  black  dress  clinging  to  her 
half-starved  little  form,  a  black  shawl  thrown 
over  her  head.  There  is  always  something  ap- 
pealing in  the  face  of  a  child,  especially  if  that 
child  is  dirty  and  hungry  and  motherless,  with 
nothing  but  the  streets  for  a  playground  and  a 
bed  in  a  dark  corner  of  a  tenement  house  to 
call  "home."  Daisy  Lopez  was  just  such  a 
child  when  he  first  induced  her  to  come  to  one 
of  the  clubs  in  the  Neighborhood  House.  And 
then  it  came  to  pass  that  on  cold  winter  nights 
at  the  close  of  the  Sunday  services  in  Spring 
Street  Church,  you  would  often  find  Daisy 
waiting  at  the  door,  her  pathetic  face  looking 
up  into  the  soft,  kind  eyes  of  Spring  Street's 
pastor,  and  begging  for  a  few  pennies.  At  this 
time  Daisy  was  working  in  a  shirt-waist  fac- 
tory, toiling  away  for  a  few  dollars  a  week. 

The  dawn  of  a  new  day  broke  across  Daisy's 
life  on  the  30th  of  May,  1908.  It  was  a  holi- 
day, and  the  young  people  of  the  church  and 
Neighborhood  House  had  been  invited  to 
spend  the  day  at  the  house  whicH  Mr.  Bates 
had  secured  at  Rye,  on  Long  Island  Sound. 


FAITHFUL  UNTO  DEATH  95 

Daisy  had  accepted  the  invitation  with  a  light 
in  her  eyes,  and  she  happily  said,  "And  I'll 
wear  a  white  dress."  The  day  was  one  long 
happy  dream  for  her.  She  was  clean,  she  wore 
a  pretty  white  dress,  she  met  young  people 
of  her  own  age,  dressed  neatly,  with  joyous 
faces.  She  was  treated  as  one  of  their  num- 
ber, no  longer  an  outcast  on  the  street,  for 
Mr.  Bates  not  only  gave  her  his  own  friend- 
ship but  opened  up  to  her  other  friendships  to 
make  paths  of  beauty  through  the  desert  of 
her  soul.  It  was  her  conversion.  She  told 
Mr.  Bates  afterward  that  it  was  the  turning 
point  in  her  life. 

Mr.  Bates  lived  in  those  days  on  the  top 
floor  at  the  rear  of  the  Neighborhood  House, 
and  his  rooms  overlooked  a  row  of  dirty  rear 
tenements  and  their  back-yards.  Night  after 
night  he  saw  a  light  in  one  of  those  tenement 
windows.  At  times  that  light  would  burn  till 
two  in  the  morning;  always  till  past  midnight. 
Daisy  Lopez  lived  there.  Little  by  little,  as 
her  confidence  in  his  friendship  grew,  Mr. 
Bates  learned  the  story  of  her  life,  and  why 
her  light  was  still  burning  so  late  at  night. 

She  had  been  born  in  London  of  an  English 
mother  and  a  Spanish  father.  Her  mother 
had  died  when  Daisy  was  hardly  past  her 
babyhood,  and  the  family  moved  to  Jamaica, 


96        LIFE  OF.  H,  ROSWELL  BATES 

where  they  were  living  when  the  terrible  earth- 
quake shook  that  island  to  its  foundations  and 
took  hundreds  of  lives.    At  that  time,  though 
only  a  mere  child,  Daisy  was  engaged  to  a 
young  soldier  in  the  forces  stationed  on  the 
island.     In  the  earthquake  he  was  killed,  as 
were  many  of  her  friends.     Out  of  the  wreck 
of  the  httle  they  had,  Daisy  and  her  two  sisters 
came  to  New  York,  where  her  sisters  married. 
Left  alone,  without  mother  or  father,  she  was 
starving  for  love.    The  real  transformation  in 
her  that   day   at  Rye  had  not   been  one   of 
clothes  and  cleaner  face.     These  were  but  the 
outward  signs  of  an  inner  awakening  of  spirit 
and  soul.     Not  that  she  had  been  conscious 
that  day  of  any  great  longing  for  God's  friend- 
ship.    Rather  it  must  have  been  a  craving  for 
human  companionship  such  as  she  had  never 
fully  known.    Around  her  was  sunshine,  hap- 
piness, life.     Behind  her  was  darkness,  loneli- 
ness, stagnation.     Instinctively  her  spirit  cried 
out  to  enter  into  this  new  radiance,  to  it  she 
reached  out  her  arms,  and  in  it  she  found  God. 
It    was    this    spiritual    transformation    which 
caused  the  light  to  burn  in  her  window  at  mid- 
night. 

She  told  Mr.  Bates  how  she  spent  her  day. 
At  six  she  rose  and  cooked  her  breakfast  in 
the  little  attic  room  under  the  old  roof.     She 


FAITHFUL  UNTO  DEATH  97 

prepared  a  cold  lunch  and  hurried  to  the  fac- 
tory, where  she  worked  from  seven  in  the 
morning  till  six  at  night.  She  went  home,  and 
after  supper  left  again  for  night  school.  After 
returning  from  school  late,  she  sat  at  the  old 
table  under  the  dim  light  of  an  oil  lamp,  work- 
ing away  till  after  midnight,  in  order  to  pre- 
pare her  lessons  for  the  next  day.  She  was 
doing  this  that  slie  might  prepare  herself  for 
greater  efficiency  in  the  service  of  others,  for 
by  that  time  she  had  come  into  the  fellowship 
of  the  church  and  had  caught  its  vision. 

To  bring  men  and  women  to  Christ  and  not 
to  himself  was  the  burning  passion  of  Mr. 
Bates.  He  was  not  one  of  those  who,  for  the 
sake  of  popularity,  would  slide  into  the  subtle 
treason  of  seeking  honors  which  should  be 
given  to  his  Lord.  To  him  it  was  a  corona- 
tion day  when  those,  whom  he  had  won 
through  long  and  desperate  conflict  with  the 
forces  of  evil,  knelt  at  the  altar  of  the  Spring 
Street  Church  and  made  glad  confession  of 
their  new-found  faith  in  Christ. 

The  winter  after  Daisy  was  received  into 
the  church,  there  was  organized  for  the  chil- 
dren of  the  neighborhood  an  afternoon  Sun- 
day School,  of  which  she  became  an  en- 
thusiastic teacher.  Many  of  the  children  were 
Italians;  hatless,  ill-fed, — ^waifs  of  the  street. 


98        LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

as  Daisy  had  been,  but  her  own  class  was  com- 
posed of  fourteen  bright  girls  from  better 
homes,  and  her  devotion  to  these  girls  was  re- 
markable. Several  of  her  class  later  united 
with  the  church. 

Daisy  still  worked  at  the'  shirt-waist  factory,' 
but  she  had  risen,  step  by  step,  till  she  had  be-, 
come  the  forewoman  on  her  floor.  .  She  had 
moved  from  the  old  tenement  to  a  boarding- 
house.  She  was  active  in  the  Saturday  Even- 
ing Literary  Club  at  the  Neighborhood  House 
and  was  an  officer  in  the  Christian  Endeavor 
Society.  One  feature  of  the  society  at  that 
time,  which  was  Mr.  Bates'  own  idea,  was 
the  social  hour  and  supper  at  the  close  of 
the  Christian  Endeavor  meeting  on  Sunday 
evenings.  Many  of  the  young  people  of  the 
neighborhood  had  no  place  they  could  really 
call  "home,"  and  this  gathering  In  the  cozy 
club-rooms  of  the  Neighborhood  House  was 
an  hour  looked  forward  to  by  all.  Many  of  them 
never  forgot  those  happy  evenings.  It  did  not 
matter  how  tired  he  was,  Mr.  Bates  was  al- 
ways the  center  of  a  happy  group,  as  they  sat 
eating  sandwiches  or  drinking  cocoa.  The  re- 
finement, the  versatility,  the  wholesomeness, 
the  humor,  yet  the  reverence  of  his  conversa- 
tion, held  these  young  people  in  a  charmed 

circle. 


FAITHFUL  UNTO  DEATH  99 

Several  of  that  group  have  married  since 
and  founded  Christian  homes.  What  a  depth 
of  loving  foresight  there  was  In  Mr.  Bates,  in 
giving  to  them  such  an  atmosphere  and  such 
surroundings  in  which  to  form  the  great  abid- 
ing relationships  of  their  lives.  And  it  was 
as  a  member  of  this  circle  that  Daisy  entered 
into  a  happy  chapter  of  her  life,  a  chapter 
which  filled  her  with  radiant  joy.  To  her  there 
came  the  love  of  a  noble,  pure-hearted  man. 
He  had  come  from  Switzerland  to  study  the 
lace  industry  in  America,  that  his  knowledge 
might  help  him  when  he  returned  to  the  firm 
which  sent  him  out.  He  boarded  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, he  came  to  Spring  Street.  In  that 
last  winter  of  her  earthly  life,  Daisy  promised 
to  become  the  wife  of  this  young  man.  They 
were  quietly  married  in  the  Spring  Street 
Church,  in  January  of  191 1.  Two  weeks  later 
the  husband  sailed  away  to  join  his  firm  in 
Switzerland,  and  in  the  early  summer,  when 
the  little  home  would  be  ready,  Daisy  was  to 
follow. 

It  is  not  necessary  here  to  go  over  the  story 
of  the  awful  fire  which  swept  in  a  few  min- 
utes through  the  three  upper  stories  of  the 
Asch  Building,  where,  out  of  the  furnace  of 
flame,  girls  leaped  to  death  on  the  pavements 


100      LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

below,  or  fought  wildly  and  vainly  to  tear  open 
doors  which  had  been  locked. 

When  Mr.  Bates  heard  of  the  fire,  knowing 
that  Daisy  was  the  forewoman  on  the  ninth 
floor  of  that  building,  he  made  every  effort  to 
discover  whether  or  not  she  was  safe.  Soon 
a  telephone  message  came  saying  that  she  was 
in  the  hospital. 

Sunday,  the  26th  of  March,  191 1,  was  a 
sad  day  for  the  city  of  New  York.  Over  one 
hundred  girls  lay  dead  or  dying,  as  a  result  of 
the  terrible  calamity  of  the  previous  day.  The 
story  of  the  closing  hours  of  this  young 
woman,  who  was  so  near  and  dear  to  all  at 
Spring  Street,  is  taken  for  the  most  part  from 
her  own  lips,  as  she  related  it  to  Mr.  Bates. 

When  he  entered  the  room  in  the  hospital 
where  Daisy  lay,  the  screams  and  moans  of 
other  suffering  girls  filled  the  air.  Daisy  was 
quiet,  her  lips  moving  in  silent  prayer.  The 
doctor  and  several  nurses  told  Mr.  Bates  that 
they  had  never  seen  such  faith  as  this  young 
girl's,  in  the  midst  of  pain  and  in  the  face  of 
death.  Her  body  was  a  helpless  wreck,  but 
she  was  saying  over  and  over,  "My  Father,  oh, 
my  Heavenly  Father."  Soon  she  recognized 
her  pastor,  and  immediately  asked,  "Were 
there  many  girls  hurt?  Oh,  I  am  so  afraid 
there  were."    And  then  she  began  praying  for 


FAITHFUL  UNTO  DEATH  101 

the  girls  who  had  been  hurt  in  the  fire,  for  the 
famihes  who  had  lost  loved  ones,  for  the 
church,  and  for  her  husband.  Sweetly  and 
clearly,  after  her  prayer,  she  repeated,  so  that 
the  whole  ward  listened,  those  beautiful  words 
of  the  Twenty-third  Psalm :  "The  Lord  is  my 
Shepherd;  I  shall  not  want  .  .  .  Yea,  though 
I  walk  through  the  Valley  of  the  Shadow  of 
Death,  I  will  fear  no  evil;  for  Thou  art  with 
me;  Thy  rod  and  Thy  staff,  they  comfort  me." 

And  then  she  began  to  talk  a  little  of  her- 
self. "I  should  love  to  live,"  she  said.  "I 
should  love  to  make  a  home  for  Henry,  but 
God  knows  best.  Tell  my  husband  that  I  have 
been  true  to  him.  Tell  them  at  the  church  that 
I  am  abiding  under  the  shadow  of  His  wings." 

Little  by  little  the  story  of  that  last  scene 
in  the  factory  came  out.  The  fire  started  a 
few  minutes  before  the  bell  was  to  ring  for 
closing.  Daisy  was  putting  her  things  away 
when  the  cry  of  "fire"  rang  through  the  hall 
below.  She  was  near  the  elevator  and  could 
have  been  one  of  the  first  to  go  down,  but  she 
was  forewoman,  and,  looking  into  her  room, 
the  sight  of  the  panic-stricken  girls  amid  the 
smoke  and  flame,  now  gathering  headway  at 
terrific  speed,  seemed  to  call  her  back  as  the 
Voice  of  God.  Back  into  the  room  she  went, 
and  springing  upon  a  tabb  called  to  the  girls 


102      LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

to  keep  calm,  while  she  struggled  over  to  the 
fire-escape.  There  the  girls  were  fighting  and 
in  terror.  Pushing  them  back  with  almost 
superhuman  force,  making  them  go  one  at  a 
time,  she  counted  forty  girls  pass  her  to  safety. 
Then  the  flames  swept  across  and  all  she  could 
do  was  to  jump  for  the  fire-nets,  nine  stories 
below.    The  net  saved  her  from  instant  death. 

On  Monday  afternoon  a  member  of  the 
Spring  Street  choir  went  over  to  the  hospital 
to  sing  to  her.  But  she  was  beyond  the  hearing 
of  earthly  music,  for  she  had  passed  from  the 
pain  and  mystery  of  earth  to  her  Heavenly 
Home. 

No  service  in  honor  of  beloved  dead  was 
ever  more  impressive  nor  more  filled  with  the 
note  of  victory  than  that  in  honor  of  Daisy. 
[As  the  choir  girls,  some  of  the  members  of 
Daisy's  own  Sunday  School  class,  came  up 
the  aisle  singing,  each  laid  an  Easter  lily  on  the 
casket,  and  once  more  the  pastor  of  Spring 
Street  Church  committed  unto  God  a  jewel 
for  the  King's  crown. 


VI 

HIS  WORK  IN  THE  SCHOOLS 
AND   COLLEGES 


X03 


God  give  us  men.  The  time  demands 
strong  minds,  great  hearts,  true  faith  and 
willing  hands. 

— Holland. 


X04 


VI 

HIS  WORK  IN  THE  SCHOOLS  AND 
COLLEGES 

THIS  is  an  age  of  hero-worship  in  the 
schools  and  colleges  of  America.  The 
great  athletic  contests  now  conducted  on 
such  a  large  scale,  the  natural  love  for  the  hero 
inborn  in  the  heart  of  youth,  but  more  than 
these,  the  growing  idealism  in  our  school  and 
college  life,  have  been  the  influences  which  have 
brought  this  to  pass.  It  is  no  longer  the  man 
who  makes  the  fifty-yard  run  for  a  touch- 
down, nor  the  man  who  can  stroke  a  winning 
crew,  who  is  most  admired  by  his  fellow-stu- 
dents. He  must  be  more  than  a  good  ground- 
gainer,  more  than  a  man  of  mighty  muscles, 
if  he  is  to  be  truly  a  leader  of  men.  The  statue 
on  the  Princeton  campus  bears  witness  to  this 
growth  in  the  requirements  of  the  college  hero. 
On  the  face  of  that  student  there  is  not  only 
the  stamp  of  the  athlete,  there  is  also  the  light 
of  intellectual  power  and  of  spiritual  aspira- 
tion. Probably  no  other  force  in  our  American 
college  life  of  the  past  two  decades  has  so  much 
105 


106      LIFE  OF  H.  EOSWELL  BATES 

helped  to  put  this  spiritual  earnestness  into  the 
requirements  of  student  leadership,  as  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association.  And  one 
of  the  most  potent  methods  used  by  the  As- 
sociation to  accomplish  this,  has  been  that  of 
bringing  to  the  colleges  and  placing  before  col- 
lege students,  men  worthy  to  be  hailed  as 
heroes  in  the  truest  sense,  men  who  are  out 
on  the  battle-line  against  vice  and  corruption 
wherever  the  enemy  is  pressing  hard. 

Of  the  men  who  have  stood  before  such  stu- 
dent audiences,  with  the  appeal  of  strong 
lives  back  of  their  message,  no  man  in  the  past 
ten  years  entered  more  deeply  and  whole- 
heartedly into  the  life  of  the  schools  and  col- 
leges than  did  Mr.  Bates,  and  to  none  did  the 
students  give  greater  loyalty.  He  came  from 
Spring  Street  and  stood  before  them,  a  young 
man  not  long  out  of  his  own  college  days. 
After  they  had  looked  into  his  face  and  heard 
his  story,  they  said,  "Here  is  a  man"  And 
when  a  college  man  says  that,  there  is  not  much 
higher  praise  that  he  can  give. 

In  the  words  of  Mr.  Robert  E.  Speer,  "Mr. 
Bates  was  one  of  the  most  influential  Christian 
personalities  working  among  our  Eastern 
students.  He  knew  very  well  their  type  of 
mind  and  attitude  toward  life,  and  combined 
the  spirit  of  playfulness  and  the  spirit  of  ear- 


HIS  WORK  IN  THE  SCHOOLS      107 

nestness  in  a  way  that  enabled  him  to  meet  the 
students  on  their  own  ground,  and  to  deal  with 
them  as  one  who  could  distinguish  between 
their  follies  and  their  earnest  questionings.  He 
came  to  be  a  very  effective  speaker,  all  the 
more  so  because  when  he  began  to  speak  it 
was  not  easy  for  him.  He  was  ready  to  make 
any  sacrifice  of  personal  comfort,  or  interest, 
or  time,  in  order  to  reach  human  lives,  and  was 
always  on  the  watch  for  hopeful  men  who 
might  be  drawn  on  into  Christian  service.  Such 
men  he  would  work  with  personally,  winning 
their  friendship,  and  bringing  them  on  to  his 
church  in  New  York  City,  to  show  them  what 
a  place  there  was  for  them,  and  how  sure  they 
might  be,  in  spite  of  any  sense  of  disqualifica- 
tion, that  God  could  use  them,  if  they  would 
give  themselves  to  Him.  Mr.  Bates'  supreme 
interest  was  the  deeply  religious  interest.  Stu- 
dents felt  that  his  touch  on  life  was  broad  and 
sure,  but  they  knew,  also,  that  his  one  concern 
was  for  the  things  that  are  deep  and  that 
abide." 

It  was  soon  after  he  had  taken  up  his  work 
in  New  York  that  the  great  colleges  of  the 
country  threw  open  their  doors  to  this  young 
minister.  Harvard,  Yale,  Princeton,  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania,  Amherst,  .Williams, 
Pennsylvania     State,      Michigan,     Toronto, 


108      LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

Queens,  Smith  and  Bryn  Mawr,  were  among 
the  colleges  which  listened  to  his  burning 
message.  Through  the  preparatory  schools 
he  passed  as  a  flame  of  fire.  The  boys  of  the 
Hill  School,  Hotchkiss,  Lawrenceville,  Mer- 
cersburg,  and  others,  eagerly  vowed  allegiance 
to  anything  Roswell  Bates  had  to  say.  It  was 
simply  because  Roswell  Bates  had  a  capacity 
for  friendship,  which  few  men  who  came  to 
the  colleges  possessed,  a  gift  rarely  to  be  found 
and  earnestly  to  be  coveted.  Some  one  has 
said  of  him:  "Probably  the  greatest  good  that 
Roswell  Bates  ever  wrought  was  not  in  bring- 
ing cheer  to  lonely  hearts  and  helping  to  re- 
lieve penury  in  tenements,  but  in  gathering 
around  him,  even  as  the  Master  of  old,  a  band 
of  young  disciples,  to  whom  he  committed  as 
unto  faithful  witnesses  the  Gospel  of  the  living 
Christ." 

A  concrete  illustration  of  this  capacity  for 
winning  college  men  to  himself  is  given  in  that 
which  took  place  on  a  North  Atlantic  liner 
while  he  was  returning  from  one  of  his  foreign 
trips.  It  was  on  the  "Princess  Irene,"  bound 
for  New  York.  When  the  ship  sailed,  Mr. 
Bates  noticed  a  group  of  particularly  lively 
college  boys  among  the  passengers.  To  his 
amusement,  one  of  the  group  came  up  behind 
him    and    slapping    him    familiarly    on    the 


HIS  WORK  IN  THE  SCHOOLS      109 

shoulder,  said :  "Say,  old  chap,  we've  got 
seven  in  our  crowd  and  there  are  eight  seats 
at  our  table.  We  don't  want  some  old  duf- 
fer stuck  in  with  us;  we're  out  for  a  good 
time  and  you  look  as  if  you  were  our  kind 
all  right.  Won't  you  take  the  extra  seat?" 
Ml.  Bates  eagerly  accepted  this  informal 
invitation,  and  found  himself  at  dinner  with 
a  rollicking  lot  of  fellows  intent  on  get- 
ting all  the  fun  possible  out  of  the  trip.  Dur- 
ing the  meal  they  poked  fun  at  many  of  the 
other  passengers,  and  at  last  some  one  spoke 
up  and  said:  "And,  say,  fellows,  who  do  you 
suppose  this  man  Batts  is,  the  Reverend 
Batts?"  The  crowd  looked  at  the  passenger 
list  and  then  proceeded  to  pick  out  which  of 
the  passengers  was  the  "Reverend  Batts."  The 
search  was  highly  interesting,  but  unsuccessful 
as  to  conclusions,  much  to  Mr.  Bates'  delight, 
though  he  had  eagerly  joined  in  the  search  for 
the  "Reverend  Batts."  At  the  close  of  the 
dinner,  just  as  the  men  were  rising  to  leave, 
Mr.  Bates  remarked :  "Well,  this  is  too  bad,  all 
you  fellows  look  so  bright  and  yet  couldn't 
find  the  Reverend  Batts.  Now  I  discovered 
him."  And  then  he  introduced  himself,  say- 
ing, "But  I  spell  my  name  with  an  e  and  pro- 
nounce it  Bates." 

He  won  the  hearts  of  the  fellows  at  once, 


110      LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

and  throughout  the  trip  led  them  in  games 
and  sports  till  they  felt  that  they  had  been 
friends  for  years.    And  with  some  of  them  he 
had   found  time  and  fitting  opportunity   for 
personal  talks.    On  one  of  the  last  days  of  the 
happy  trip  one  of  the  men  came  up  to  him 
and  asked  him  to  come  to  his  cabin  alone. 
There  in  the  cabin  he  told  his  new  friend  of 
the  blow  which  had  just  come  to  him.     A' 
cable  had  summoned  him  home  to  take  his 
father's  place  in  a  large  business  concern  and 
to  be  his  mother's  stay,  for  the  father  had  died 
very  suddenly.     Shrinking  from  the  new  re- 
sponsibilities, the  boyish  heart  had  sought  re- 
lief in  the  merriment  of  the  crowd.     But  in 
Mr.  Bates'   friendship  he  had   found  a  new 
challenge  to  lay  hold  upon  life,  and  to  get  a 
new  grip  on  himself.     And  Mr.   Bates  was 
able  to  help  him  enter  into  his  business  career 
with  the  love  of  God  to  inspire  him  as  he  took 
up  the  new  responsibilities  from  which  he  had 
shrunk. 

He  could  make  a  student  feel  that  he  was 
his  most  intimate  friend  in  that  college,  and  he 
could  mean  it,  too.  There  was  no  cant 
about  him.  College  men  abhor  hypocrisy  of 
any  kind,  and  most  of  all  in  a  minister.  Mr. 
Bates*  life  shone  clear  and  true.  He  never 
made  men   feel  that  he  was  preaching  "at" 


HIS  WORK  IN  THE  SCHOOLS      111 

them,  but  somehow  he  had  a  way  of  making 
a  man  whose  life  was  full  of  meanness  feel 
terribly  upset. 

However,  it  was  not  so  much  in  his 
big  meetings,  powerful  as  he  was  as  a 
platform  speaker,  but  it  was  in  small  groups 
that  he  was  at  his  best.  Once  at  Yale 
Mr.  Bates  had  spoken  in  the  large  meeting, 
and  one  of  his  student  friends  had  invited  him 
to  a  fraternity  house  for  the  evening,  "to  get 
in  touch  with  a  small  group  of  the  fellows." 
He  was  new  at  Yale  then  and  they  had  not 
"sized  him  up,"  so  after  the  dinner  one  after 
another  of  the  fellows  came  up  and  asked  to 
be  excused  for  the  evening.  But  before  the 
crowd  had  broken  up  they  were  sitting  for  a 
few  minutes  around  an  open  fire.  Mr,  Bates 
felt  that  his  opportunity  had  come.  No  man 
was  more  constantly  on  the  alert  for  such  mo- 
ments than  he.  He  began  a  conversation.  The 
men  forgot  their  excuses  and  no  longer  felt 
that  their  engagements  were  pressing.  Mr. 
Bates  drifted  from  one  subject  to  another 
while  the  group  listened  spellbound.  Looking 
down  at  his  friend  seated  on  the  floor  beside 
him,  Mr.  Bates  saw  that  his  head  was  bowed 
and  knew  that  he  was  praying  for  him.  Then, 
in  a  stillness  that  was  unbroken,  save  by  his 
strong,  tender  pleading,  he  began  to  present 


112      LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

to  those  fellows  the  claims  of  Christ.  Some 
men,  great  and  Christian  men,  would  not  have 
pressed  such  claims  that  night  in  that  frater- 
nity group.  But  he  could  do  it,  and  do  it  in 
such  a  way  that  men  stayed  and  listened  and 
went  away  to  think  and  to  make  decisions. 
When  Mr.  Bates'  voice  ceased  speaking,  a  fine 
big  freshman  detached  himself  from  the 
group,  and  coming  over  to  him,  gripped  his 
hand  and  said  with  intense  earnestness,  "Mr. 
Bates,  I  want  to  stand  for  those  things  here 
at  Yale."  That  freshman  became  the  great- 
est athlete  Yale  has  had  in  ten  years,  and  he 
stood  in  the  life  of  the  college  for  the  things 
he  said  he  would  stand  for  that  evening  in  the 
fraternity  house. 

A  letter  from  President  Garfield,  of  Wil- 
liams, gives  a  glimpse  into  the  way  in  which 
Mr.  Bates  used  most  of  his  time  when  spend- 
ing Sunday  at  a  college.  "It  was  my  mis- 
fortune not  to  know  Mr.  Bates  until  the  time 
when  he  came  here  to  preach,  and,  as  you 
know,  the  several  Sundays  afforded  little  op- 
portunity for  the  development  of  the  kind  of 
thing  that  would  most  suitably  go  into  a 
biography.  This  was  more  particularly  true 
in  Mr.  Bates'  case  because  of  the  way  in  which 
he  devoted  himself  to  the  students  during  his 
visits.  He  was  greatly  liked  and  eagerly  sought. 


HIS  WORK  IN  THE  SCHOOLS      113 

On  the  occasion  of  each  of  his  visits  he  was 
detained  by  the  men  long  after  the  adjourn- 
ment of  the  evening  meeting,  and  on  at  least 
two  occasions  students  came  to  the  house  with 
him,  staying  late  into  the  night  in  conferences 
evidently  very  personal  in  their  nature.  He 
drew  college  men  to  him  in  a  remarkable 
way." 

How  easily  he  might  have  spent  those  even- 
ings in  the  restful  yet  stimulating  atmosphere 
of  the  president's  home,  with  a  clear  con- 
science, after  a  hard  day's  work  with  the  col- 
lege preaching  services.  But  while  a  single 
student  needed  his  help  or  his  friendly  counsel, 
he  was  at  the  command  of  the  students.  The 
sad  moral  defeats  in  the  lives  of  men  who 
should  have  been  conquerors  were  to  him 
burdens  to  be  borne  in  anguish,  and  the  desire 
to  help  these  college  boys  overcome  their 
battles  forced  him  into  their  soul  struggles  as 
if  the  conflict  were  his  own.  He  was  a  man 
who  wrestled  with  God  for  the  souls  of 
men. 

The  same  testimony  comes  from  Dr.  Harris, 
the  former  president  of  Amherst,  who  writes : 
"While  I  was  president  of  Amherst  College, 
Mr.  Bates  came  every  year  to  preach  In  the 
college  chapel.  No  one  was  more  heartily 
welcome   than   he.     When  he   spoke  at  the 


114      LIFE  OF.  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

Christian  Association  meeting  the  room  was 
always  packed.  He  would  tell  of  his  work  in 
New  York,  or  the  temptations  of  young  men, 
or  the  opportunities  for  service  in  a  great  city. 
In  the  afternoon  and  in  the  evening  after  the 
service  he  visited  the  fraternity  houses  and  the 
dormitories,  where  groups  of  students  gathered 
around  him  in  eager  questioning.  It  would  be 
midnight  before  he  returned  to  my  house,  tired 
and  happy.  He  was  an  eager,  aspiring,  de- 
voted soul,  with  a  wonderful  enthusiasm,  and, 
withal,  a  fine  sense  of  humor." 

President  Hyde,  of  Bowdoin,  said  of  his 
visits  among  their  college  community:  "He 
was  one  of  the  most  Christlike  spirits  I  have 
ever  known.  We  shall  miss  him  sorely  as  col- 
lege preacher." 

!At  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  v/here 
they  were  undertaking  social  work  with  a 
splendidly  equipped  university  settlement,  un- 
der the  leadership  of  Mr.  Thomas  Evans,  Mr. 
Bates  was  called  in  as  adviser,  and  for  some 
winters  he  made  regular  trips  to  Philadelphia, 
when  he  not  only  preached  to  the  college  stu- 
dents, but  spent  much  time  in  going  over  the 
work  of  the  settlement. 

Each  year  Mr.  Bates  spent  two  weeks  in 
(5anada,  speaking  in  the  colleges  and  giving  a 
course  of  lectures  at  Knox  College,  Toronto 


HIS  WORK  IN  THE  SCHOOLS      115 

University.  President  Gandier  says  of  his  work 
there :  "Having  visited  us  five  years  in  succes- 
sion, Mr.  Bates'  practical  talks  to  students  and 
professors  had  become  a  regular  feature  of 
our  college  life.  No  man  ever  came  to  Knox 
who  was  more  warmly  welcomed,  or  made  a 
deeper  impression,  and  I  know  of  no  other 
man  who  could  have  returned  year  after  year 
as  Roswell  Bates  did,  to  talk  upon  the  same 
general  theme,  without  growing  stale.  His 
sympathy,  the  simplicity  and  sincerity  of  his 
nature,  the  way  in  which  he  gave  of  his  best 
to  all  to  whom  he  talked,  made  him  equally 
attractive  and  equally  compeHing  whether 
among  college  students  or  in  a  Gospel-tent 
service  in  lower  New  York.  He  combined 
the  mysticism  of  the  mediaeval  saint  and  the 
organizing  ability  of  the  modern  business 
man.  No  life-work  can  be  measured  by  years, 
and  it  is  doubtful  if  four-score  years  of 
careful,  wisely  modulated  effort  could  have 
touched  half  as  many  lives,  or  set  in  motion 
one  tithe  as  many  spiritual  forces,  as  the  two- 
score  years  in  which  Roswell  Bates  recklessly 
poured  out  his  life's  blood  for  God  and  man. 
We,  who,  with  all  care  and  forethought  and 
wise  adaptation,  plan  for  ourselves  noble,  well- 
regulated  careers  in  life,  occasionally  need  a 
spirit  and  life  such  as  Roswell  Bates  to  shake 


116      LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

us  out  of  our  carefully  planned  but  stilted,  con- 
ventional professionalism." 

At  his  old  seminary  Mr.  Bates  was  always 
a  welcome  speaker.  In  a  letter  from  President 
Stewart,  of  Auburn,  the  following  incident  is 
related:  "I  distinctly  recall  the  time  he  ad- 
dressed the  seminary  during  our  Commence- 
ment, when  he  gave  as  the  missionary  address 
an  account  of  his  work  at  Spring  Street.  He 
held  for  an  hour  the  audience  that  crowded  our 
chapel,  many  of  whom  were  former  fellow- 
townsmen  and  schoolmates.  The  address  had 
a  profound  effect." 

To  Mr.  Bates'  power  in  the  young  women's 
colleges.  Dr.  Burton,  of  Smith,  bears  testi- 
mony: "Mr.  Bates  was  one  of  the  few  men 
who  gripped  powerfully  our  entire  student 
body  and  whom  we  loved  to  have  at  Smith 
College."  The  Instructor  In  Athletics  at  Bryn 
Mawr  writes:  **What  Bryn  Mawr  will  do 
without  him  I  cannot  think.  He  always  lifted 
us  out  of  the  slough  of  selfishness,  and  his 
spirit  seemed  to  dwell  with  us  and  keep  us  up 
to  the  mark  all  the  rest  of  the  year.  His  work 
and  influence  can  never  die  out,  but  will  live 
on  among  us  forever." 

This  chapter  would  be  incomplete  were  there 
no  testimonies  from  the  preparatory  schools, 
for  Mr.  Bates  enjoyed  his  work  among  the 


HIS  WORK  IN  THE  SCHOOLS      117 

boys  of  the  preparatory  schools  as  much  as  any 
service  he  rendered.  His  love  for  them  and 
their  love  for  him  took  visible  form  when  the 
Hill  School  boys  gave  the  gymnasium  to 
Spring  Street. 

Two  of  the  friendships  that  he  prized  most 
were  with  Dr.  John  Meigs,  of  beloved  memory 
to  every  Hill  School  boy,  and  with  Mrs.  Meigs. 
At  the  time  of  Dr.  Meigs'  death,  his  letter  to 
Mrs.  Meigs  shows  his  capacity  for  entering  in- 
to the  heart  experience  of  another. 

Dear  Mrs.  John  : 

This  is  to  tell  you  that  during  these  Christmas 
days  we  are  helping  you,  by  the  spaceless,  timeless, 
invincible  ministry  of  prayer.  What  a  wonderful 
Christmas  this  is  for  him  with  his  Christ. 

Of  Roswell  Bates'  life  and  influence  among 
the  Hill  School  boys,  Mrs.  John  Meigs  says, 
*Tn  reviewing  the  life  of  a  man  like  Roswell 
Bates,  one  is  often  led  to  ask  what  was  the 
secret  of  his  influence?  It  is  not  found  in  the 
breadth  of  his  mind,  nor  the  devotion  of  his 
spirit,  nor  even  in  the  strength  of  his  char- 
acter, for  long  before  these  qualities  were 
recognized,  one  felt  the  charm  of  his  in- 
dividuality and  yielded  to  its  spell.  The  secret 
of  Roswell  Bates'  influence  lay  in  the  fact  that 
the  qualities  of  his  mind,  the  earnestness  of  his 


118      LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

spirit  and  the  fineness  of  his  character,  were 
all  permeated  with  the  power  of  personal  mag- 
netism, and  that  power,  which  drew  high  and 
low,  rich  and  poor,  old  and  young,  to  him, 
was  used  to  lift  up  Him  who  said — 'And  I,  if 
I  be  lifted  up,  will  draw  all  men  unto  Me.'  A' 
man  with  all  the  qualities  that  made  Roswell 
Bates  good  and  strong,  without  his  personal 
magnetism,  or  a  man  with  it,  but  lacking  his 
consecrated  spirit,  could  never  have  had  the  up- 
lifting influence  he  exerted  on  all  who  came 
into  intimate  relationship  with  him.  It  was  the 
combination  and  consecration  of  all  these 
forces  that  explained  his  power  of  leadership 
and  his  largeness  of  influence." 

From  the  Hotchkiss  School,  Dr.  Buehler 
sends  this  glowing  tribute :  "Long  before  I  met 
Mr.  Bates,  a  number  of  people  told  me  that 
I  ought  to  try  to  get  him  up  to  Hotchkiss  to 
speak  to  the  boys,  because  he  was  the  'right 
kind.'  I  first  met  him  at  one  of  the  student 
conferences  at  Northfield,  and  asked  him  If 
he  would  come.  He  instantly  replied,  'I  would 
love  to.' 

"As  a  guest  in  our  home  at  Lakeville,  Ros- 
well was  always  perfectly  charming,  and  Mrs. 
Buehler  and  I  always  looked  forward  eagerly 
to  his  coming,  found  delight  in  his  presence, 
and  felt  sorry  to  see  him  go.    He  was  the  soul 


HIS  WORK  IN  THE  SCHOOLS      119 

of  every  company  that  he  was  in,  always 
bright,  hearty,  witty,  buoyant,  entertaining  and 
uplifting.  Mrs.  Buehler  and  I  loved  him  dearly, 
and  so  did  every  other  Hotchkiss  person  who 
knew  him. 

"As  a  preacher  to  young  men  he  was  one  of 
the  best — fluent,  direct,  pointed,  lucid,  sincere, 
convincing,  uplifting,  memorable — These  are 
the  adjectives  that  come  to  my  mind  when  I 
think  of  his  preaching  in  the  Hotchkiss  Chapel. 

"Three  special  pictures  of  Roswell  at  Hotch- 
kiss will  always  stand  out  in  my  memory : 

"The  first  was  on  the  occasion  of  his  first 
visit  to  the  school.  The  boys  were  completely 
captivated  by  his  morning  sermon,  and  many  of 
them  eagerly  seized  the  opportunity  offered  to 
come  over  to  my  house  and  talk  to  him  after 
dinner.  He  sat  in  our  green-room  with  a  score 
of  boys  around  him,  and  held  them  like 
charmed  birds  while  he  chatted  with  them,  tell- 
ing them  about  his  experience,  his  failures,  his 
views  of  life  and  its  combination  of  humor 
and  tragedy. 

"The  second  special  picture  in  my  memory 
is  of  how  he  arrived  at  my  house  from  New 
York  one  wintry  Saturday  night.  He  had 
just  thrown  off  his  overcoat  and  was  about  to 
sit  down  to  a  good,  warm  supper,  which  was 
waiting   for  him,   when   some   of   the   boys 


120      LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

stopped  at  the  house  to  see  me  on  their  way 
to  the  Ore  Hill  Club,  which  they  established 
and  conducted  for  the  benefit  of  the  sons  of 
the  miners  at  Ore  Hill.  After  hearing  part  of 
my  talk  with  the  boys  he  requested  more  in- 
formation, and  immediately  said  he  would  like 
to  go  with  the  boys.  When  his  attention  was 
drawn  to  the  waiting  supper,  he  said  he  wasn't 
hungry  and  would  much  rather  go  to  Ore 
Hill,  which  he  did,  coming  back  with  the  boys 
about  ten  o'clock,  glowing,  happy  and  enthu- 
siastic, having  given  them  all  a  wonderful 
evening. 

"The  last  special  picture  in  my  memory  was 
on  the  occasion  of  his  last  visit  to  Hotchkiss. 
After  two  splendid  sermons,  he  asked  me  to 
say  to  the  boys  that  if  any  of  them  cared  to 
come  over  to  see  him  in  the  evening  he  would 
tell  them  some  stories.  I  think  150  boys 
eagerly  accepted  the  invitation  and  streamed 
over  to  my  house  after  supper.  I  thought  they 
would  never  cease  coming,  and  wondered 
where  we  should  put  them.  It  was  clear  that 
the  only  boys  who  did  not  come  were  those 
who  could  not.  The  large  Headmaster's  study 
was  crowded  to  its  capacity.  Roswell  stood  at 
one  end  with  his  back  to  the  fireplace  while 
the  boys  sat  around  in  every  conceivable  at- 
titude.    They  sat  or  lay  on  the  floor.     They 


HIS  WORK  IN  THE  SCHOOLS      121 

sat  on  the  backs  of  the  davenports.  They  sat 
on  each  other's  laps.  They  stood  along  the 
wall.  It  was  a  most  interesting  and  beautiful 
sight,  as  for  more  than  an  hour  he  told  them 
stories  of  New  York  City  life. 

"Roswell  was  a  rare  spirit.  His  unselfish- 
ness was  complete,  and  he  made  others  feel 
the  joy  of  it.  Jesus  Christ  was  very  real  and 
dear  to  him,  and  he  made  others  feel  His 
beauty  and  nobility." 

Mrs.  Irvine,  the  wife  of  Dr.  Irvine,  of 
Mercersburg,  tells  for  us  a  beautiful  little 
story  related  to  the  boys  on  one  of  his  visits 
there.  "He  told  us  a  story  of  a  little  flower 
in  Sweden  which  in  their  language  is  called 
'Love-me-up,'  because  if  you  scratch  the  snow 
away  from  its  roots  in  the  early  spring  before 
the  thaws  come  to  melt  it  away,  the  sun  will 
love  it  up  into  bloom.  Thus,  he  said,  we  must 
warm  frozen  hearts  by  our  love  until  we  have 
loved  them  up  to  God.  That  was  the  way  he 
did  himself,  and  our  boys — you  know  we  have 
400  of  them — hung  on  his  words.  They  could 
hardly  wait  for  him  to  come  again.  His  ser- 
mon on  'Surrender'  was  one  of  the  best  I  have 
ever  heard  for  boys." 

There  are  a  multitude  of  tributes  which 
might  be  added  to  this  gleaning.  All  of  them 
reveal  the  versatility,  the  power,  the  faith,  the 


122      LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

love,  in  the  life  of  this  winner  of  souls.  May 
the  college  men  and  the  boys  of  the  schools 
who  listened  to  his  message  prove  loyal  to  the 
trust  committed  unto  their  cjiarge. 


VII 
THE  COLLEGE  CONFERENCES 


123 


Oh  dear  and  lovely  Northfield, 
What  memories  round  thee  cling. 

For  here  the  Lord  hath  taught  us 
A  new,  glad  song  to  sing. 

— Northfield  Hymn. 


124 


VII 
THE  COLLEGE  CONFERENCES 

TO  speak  of  Roswell  Bates'  work  among 
the  schools  and  colleges  without  giving 
some  insight  into  his  influence  upon  stu- 
dents, with  whom  he  came  in  contact  at  the 
Summer  Conferences,  would  be  to  tell  but  half 
the  story  of  his  winsome  power  over  such  men. 
On  the  banks  of  the  Connecticut,  at  North- 
field,  by  the  lake  at  Eaglesmere,  or  at  Winona, 
his  presence  among  the  students  helped  many 
a  storm-tossed,  doubting  soul  to  find  the 
Father's  waiting  arms  of  love.  As  in  his  visits 
to  the  colleges,  his  most  helpful  work  was  not 
done  through  the  addresses  from  the  public 
platform,  but  in  intimate  talks  with  small 
groups,  and  above  all  in  his  constant  personal 
work  during  the  Conference  days.  Few  men 
at  the  Northfield  student  gatherings  did  as 
much  self-sacrificing  personal  work  as  did  Mr. 
Bates. 

His  class,  which  met  morning  by  morning 
to  discuss  the  problems  of  the  city,  was  always 
the  largest  of  the  Mission  study  groups.  Many 
125 


126      LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

a  college  boy  went  out  from  that  group  with 
a  new  vision  of  what  a  man's  life  ought  to 
mean  to  a  world  where  sin  and  vice  are  waging 
relentless  warfare  against  the  forces  of  purity 
and  holiness. 

To  many  men  who  went  to  Northfield  dur- 
ing the  past  decade,  one  of  the  most  outstand- 
ing memories  of  those  Conference  days  must 
be  a  picture  of  Herb  Bates  coming  across  the 
campus  dressed  in  immaculate  white  flannels, 
with  tie  and  socks  of  the  latest  fashion,  a  white 
shirt  starched  just  enough,  a  hat  with  the 
stamp  on  the  inside  that  you  knew  read  "Real 
Panama,"  with  a  dozen  or  more  fellows  in  his 
devoted  train,  his  arms  around  as  many  as  he 
could  get  within  his  reach.  To  see  Herb  Bates 
walk  half  a  mile  on  Northfield  soil  without  a 
group  of  students  at  his  heels  was  indeed  an 
unusual  sight.  It  is  not  out  of  place  here  to 
speak  of  his  care  in  dress.  This  man,  who  In 
his  settlement  work  at  the  Sea  and  Land  often 
wore  clothes  full  of  patches,  shoes  that  had 
paper  in  them  to  stop  up  the  holes,  and  strings 
where  shoe  laces  should  have  been,  because  he 
believed  that  he  could  get  nearer  the  hearts  of 
the  poor  in  the  neighborhood  by  this  method, 
who  would  have  made  a  wonderful  ascetic 
monk  had  he  lived  In  the  middle  ages,  felt  in 
his  later  work  that  his  hold  upon  men  was 


o 


u 


THE  COLLEGE  CONFERENCES  127 

stronger  if  he  took  pains  to  dress  well.  To 
him  it  became  a  religious  duty.  He  selected 
his  ties  before  going  to  the  Conferences  with 
as  much  care  as  he  chose  the  illustrations  for 
his  talks.  More  than  one  college  man  has 
written  since  his  death  that  the  first  thing  that 
attracted  him  to  Mr.  Bates  was  his  care  in 
dress.  There  was  much  truth  in  the  following 
lines  sung  on  the  Conference  platform  one 
"stunt  night"  when  the  Conference  leaders 
were  being  taken  off  by  a  group  of  students: 

"Here's  to  Herbert  Roswell  Bates, 
His  socks  and  ties  are  always  mates, 
His  Panamas  and  flannels  white, 
Attract  the  students  left  and  right." 

As  Herb  said  to  some  of  us  who  knew  him 
well,  "Do  you  know  I  should  just  love  to  have 
been  a  sport."  How  well  I  remember  his  call- 
ing me  into  his  room  on  more  than  one  oc- 
casion just  before  he  was  leaving  for  some  col- 
lege, and  saying,  with  just  the  slightest  twinkle 
in  his  eyes,  which  we  saw  so  often  and  always 
loved  to  see,  "Now,  honestly,  Ralph,  which  of 
these  two  ties  is  the  more  stunning?"  And  then 
he  would  pull  out  a  drawer  and  there  the  two 
ties  would  be  laid  out  side  by  side ;  "stunning" 
they  invariably  were.  What  heated  discussions 
we  used  to  have  in  the  Annex  there  at  Spring 
Street  as  to  whether  a  blue  tie  and  black  socks 


128      LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

were  more  stylish  than  the  same  tie  with  blue 
socks.  Herb  rather  leaned  to  the  blue  ones. 
But  if  a  man  can  be  said  to  dedicate  his  clothes 
to  the  service  of  God,  without  seeming  too 
pious,  this  can  be  said  of  Roswell  Bates.  His 
sole  aim,  his  constant  prayer,  throughout  the 
Conference  days,  and  during  long  weeks  pre- 
ceding them,  was  that  he  might  be  used,  and 
used  mightily,  of  God  among  the  students.  To 
lay  hold  of  men  and  lead  them  to  Christ  was 
always  and  everywhere  his  burning  passion. 
With  him  it  was  no  faintly  flickering  flame ;  it 
was  a  consuming  fire  possessing  every  fiber 
of  his  being.  At  the  close  of  the  last  Confer- 
ence he  ever  attended  at  Northfield,  the  sum- 
mer before  his  death,  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Mott : 

The    Neighborhood    House, 
244   Spring   Street, 

July    1 2th,    19 12. 
My  dear  Mr.  Mott: 

I  have  sent  to  Mr.  McMillan  a  list  of  53  names  of 
men,  to  whom  I  have  asked  him  to  send  the  two 
little  booklets  concerning  which  you  spoke  to  me. 
It  will  be  a  gratification  to  you  to  know  that  between 
10.30  and  12.45,  after  the  last  Round  Top  Meeting, 
50  men  came  to  me  from  the  after-meeting  for  inter- 
views. The  results  at  Northfield  this  year  seemed  to 
indicate  that  in  the  past  we  have  failed  to  realize  how 
many  attend  the  conference  who  are  not  Christians. 
As  nearly  as  I  can  make  out,  175  men  accepted  Christ 
at  Northfield  this  year,  many  of  whom  did  not  even 
pretend  to  be  believers.     I  believe  these  men  are 


THE  COLLEGE  CONFERENCES  129 

dead  in  earnest  and  that  150  of  them  will  not  only 
remain  firm  in  the  Faith  but  will  live  lives  worthy 
of  the  name  of  the  Savior.  I  have  taken  great  pains 
in  making  this  estimate  and  believe  you  can  count 
upon  it  as  being  a  fair  conclusion. 

Thank  you  heartily  for  your  friendship  and  for 
letting  me  have  a  small  part  in  the  work  at  North- 
field,  and  please  give  ray  warmest  regards  to  John. 
Very  cordially  yours, 

H.  RoswELL  Bates. 

In  reply  to  this  letter,  Mr.  Mott  wrote  : 

Entrelac  p.  O. 
Prov.  of  Quebec,  Canada, 

July    27th,    1912, 
Dear  Bates  : 

Your  most  kind  letter  of  July  12th  has  been  for- 
warded to  me  in  the  woods  of  Canada.  I  rejoice  and 
thank  God  with  you  over  the  wonderful  results 
accomplished  at  Northfield,  largely  due  to  faithful 
personal  work.  In  this  friendly  ministry  God  used 
you  in  a  more  signal  way  than  any  other  person. 
It  has  been  upon  my  mind  and  heart  to  write  you 
a  special  letter  expressing  my  own  deep  appreciation 
of  the  unselfish  and  devoted  way  in  which  you  placed 
yourself  at  the  disposal  of  men  in  need.  It  was  a 
Bplendid  example  of  Christlike  service.  In  some 
ways  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  your  ten  days' 
service  at  Northfield  has  been  the  most  productive 
piece  of  Christian  work  which  has  come  to  my 
attention  in  recent  years.  May  God  enable  us  to 
associate  our  efforts  many  years  in  this  blessed 
service.  With  best  wishes, 

Very  cordially  yours, 
John  R.  Mott. 


130      LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

The  following  incident  is  an  example  of  the 
unselfish  efforts  Mr.  Bates  put  forth  to  win  a 
man  to  Christ.  At  that  last  conference  at 
Northfield  he  was  especially  praying  for  a 
young  Harvard  man.  The  Conference  drew 
to  a  close,  and  still  the  man  had  taken  no 
definite  stand.  On  the  morning  of  the  last 
day,  Mr.  Bates  awoke  early  and  could  not  sleep 
for  the  thought  of  that  man  who  was  still  un- 
decided. Rising  an  hour  or  two  before  break- 
fast, he  went  to  the  man's  room,  wakened  him, 
and  pressed  upon  him  the  appeal  of  Christ. 
Far  from  being  offended  by  this  intrusion,  the 
man's  heart  was  touched  that  Mr.  Bates  should 
care  so  much,  and  at  breakfast  Mr.  Bates  was 
overflowing  with  joy  because  the  man  had 
promised  that  very  day  to  declare  openly  his 
allegiance  to  Jesus  Christ.  It  was  one  of  the 
most  inspiring  things  of  that  Conference  to 
hear  this  young  man  stand  up  before  a  crowd 
of  his  fellow-students,  gathered  for  a  final 
Bible  Study  Conference  later  that  morning,  and 
frankly  make  his  confession  of  loyalty  to 
Christ. 

At  the  Conferences  another  side  of  Roswell's 
magnetic  personality  had  full  play,  his  gift  for 
fun-making.  Few  men  possessed  such  an  over- 
flowing supply  of  humor.  As  all  those  who 
have  attended  the  Summer  Conferences  for  stu- 


THE  COLLEGE  CONFERENCES  131 

dents,  know,  one  night  is  called  "stunt  night." 
All  the  pent-up  spirit  of  youth  runs  riot  then, 
and  yet  has  none  of  the  features  which  have 
often  marred  and  stained  college  men,  and 
brought  disgrace  upon  institutions,  at  the  close 
of  a  triumphant  football  contest,  or  the  cul- 
mination of  a  successful  season.  At  North- 
held  the  fun  and  humor  go  hand  in  hand  with 
reverence  for  body  and  spirit.  And  Herb 
Bates  was  the  centre  of  the  fun.  It  is  hard  to 
think  of  "stunt  night"  at  Northfield  without 
him,  figuring  as  an  Indian,  in  all  the  war-paint 
and  feathers,  or  dressed  as  an  old  Irish  woman, 
with  shawl,  bonnet  and  umbrella. 

Dr.  Buehler,  of  the  Hotchkiss  School,  tells 
his  impression  of  one  of  these  occasions :  "At 
the  Conference  I  was  deeply  interested  in  see- 
ing Roswell's  sympathy  and  adaptability  and 
capacity  for  friendship.  At  the  Fourth-of- 
July  celebration  he  dressed  up  as  an  African 
chief  and  delighted  the  entire  audience  with  his 
amusing  antics.  I  found  it  hard  to  believe  that 
the  ludicrous  figure  on  the  platform  was  the 
spiritual  and  serious-minded  Roswell  Bates. 
As  I  left  the  auditorium  that  evening  I  over- 
heard a  young  girl  say,  'Isn't  it  fine  that  they 
can  have  such  a  good  time  and  be  such  good 
Christians.'  "  Herb  taught  a  lot  of  men  that 
fact — that  a  man  can  be  an  earnest  disciple  of 


132      LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

Christ  and  at  the  same  time  have  the  best  sort 
of  fun  in  hfe. 

One  incident  which  stands  out  fresh  in 
memory  occurred  during  the  Conference  for 
the  Middle  Atlantic  States  held  at  Eaglesmere, 
Pennsylvania,  in  the  summer  of  191 1.  It  was 
my  privilege  to  room  with  Mr.  Bates.  One 
day  I  unfolded  the  plans  of  the  Columbia 
crowd  for  "stunt  night,"  for  they  had  asked  me 
to  take  charge  of  their  "stunt."  Herb  went 
into  raptures  over  it.  I  think  we  liked  to  take 
ever}'thing  to  him  because  he  was  always  so 
enthusiastic.  The  "stunt"  was  this:  A  huge 
tank  filled  with  water  was  placed  on  the  plat- 
form with  a  board  over  the  top.  This  board 
was  so  arranged  that  any  one  who  sat  on  it 
could  be  dumped  headfirst  into  the  tank  up 
to  his  heels,  when  the  man  behind  the  curtain 
loosened  the  rope  which  kept  the  board  in  place. 
On  this  board  we  were  to  put  a  Freshman 
dressed  in  fantastic  style  and  blackened  like  a 
negro.  Over  his  head  was  a  small  hole.  At 
the  proper  time  I  was  to  appear  as  a  fakir  at  a 
side  show  and  offer  "three  shots  for  a  nickel." 
Behind  the  hole  was  a  tin  can.  When  this  was 
struck  the  poor  lad  on  the  board  was  to  get  a 
ducking  to  the  overwhelming  joy  of  the  ap- 
plauding students.  The  proceeds  of  the  show, 
it  had  been  advertised  far  and  wide,  were  to 


THE  COLLEGE  CONFERENCES  133 

be  handed  over  to  the  Chairman  of  the  Con-, 
ference  and  his  bride,  to  defray  the  expenses 
of  their  recent  honeymoon.  When  the  event 
was  "pulled  off"  the  young  husband  was  offered 
the  first  three  shots  free  of  charge.  Amid  the 
intense  excitement  which  followed,  Herb 
sidled  up  to  me  and  whispered  that  he  was 
"game"  to  sit  on  that  board. 

After  the  Freshman  had  been  soused  amid 
thunderous  applause,  it  was  announced  that 
a  great  example  of  self-sacrifice  was  needed. 
"Who  would  volunteer  to  take  the  Freshman's 
place  to  help  out  the  poor  young  couple?"  Of 
course  I  knew  that  Herb  would  offer  himself. 
As  he  started  toward  the  platform,  Luke  Mil- 
ler of  Princeton  started  forward  at  the  same 
time.  Herb  won  the  race  and  took  his  place  on 
the  board.  There  he  sat  in  his  neatly  pressed 
white  flannels,  his  silk  hose,  his  immaculate 
shirt  and  tie,  with  a  rapturous  grin  on  his  face. 
Missionaries  from  India  and  China  disgraced 
themselves,  as  they  fought  with  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
leaders  and  college  athletes  to  get  fiirst  throw. 
So  great  was  the  excitement  by  this  time  that 
most  of  the  audience  were  standing  on  the 
chairs.  Sam  Higgenbottom,  an  old  Princeton 
baseball  player,  now  doing  marvelous  work 
among  the  lepers  of  India,  paid  for  six  throws 
and  missed  them  all.    Herb  sat  there  smiling. 


134      LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

Man  after  man  grew  red  in  the  face  trying  to 
hit  that  elusive  little  hole.  At  last  Tom  Evans 
of  Pennsylvania  stepped  up.  It  was  plain  that 
he  "had  it  in"  for  Herb.  Herb  had  "bossed" 
him  down  at  the  settlement  in  Philadelphia, 
and  now  his  turn  had  come.  Tom  remarked 
that  something  was  going  to  happen,  and  it 
did.  A  ring  as  the  ball  struck  the  tin,  a  splash, 
silk  socks  in  the  air,  and  such  a  blubbering  as 
you  never  did  hear,  while  the  crowd  went  wild. 
That  night,  after  the  last  bonfire  had  died  out, 
the  members  of  the  Columbia  delegation  were 
still  shouting,  "What's  the  matter  with  Mr. 
Bates?  He's  ALL  RIGHT.  Who's  all 
right?  MR.  BATES!"  And  when  Mr.  Bates 
stood  before  that  college  crowd  and  drove 
home  one  of  the  closing  messages  of  the  Con- 
ference, some  of  us  knew,  as  he  did  himself, 
that  men  listened  a  little  more  intently  to  his 
appeal. 

Northfield  and  Eaglesmere  will  continue,  but 
the  face  of  Roswell  Bates  will  be  sorely  missed 
by  many  a  man  who  returns  to  live  the  old 
days  over,  the  days  when  in  the  peaceful  valley 
of  the  Connecticut,  or  by  the  lake  among  the 
hills,  he  found  his  Lord  because  another  man 
had  yearned  for  his  soul.  That  man  has  now 
gone  on  to  the  service  where  he  sees  face  to 
face  the  Master  of  his  life,  the  Great  Captain 
of  his  fight. 


VIII 
FROM  DARKNESS  INTO  LIGHT 


135 


Out  of  my  bondage,  sorrow  and  night, 

Jesus,  I  come,  Jesus,  I  come; 
Into  Thy  freedom,  gladness  and  light, 

Jesus,  I  come  to  Thee; — 
Out  of  earth's  sorrows  into  Thy  halm. 
Out  of  life's  storms  and  into  Thy  calm. 
Out  of  distress  to  jubilant  psalm, 
Jesus  I  come  to  Thee. 

— Sleeper. 


136 


yiii 

FROM  DARKNESS  INTO  LIGHT 

ONE  morning  Roswell  Bates  received  a 
note  in  the  mail  which  read  very 
strangely.  It  v^^as  on  delicate  note- 
paper  and  v^^as  from  a  woman.  It  said  that  the 
writer  was  in  great  trouble,  but  she  believed 
that  he  might  be  willing  and  able  to  help  her. 
If  he  was  willing  to  help  the  unhappiest  woman 
in  the  world  he  was  to  take  an  afternoon  train 
for  a  certain  surburb  of  the  city  and  he  would 
find  her  at  the  station. 

Not  knowing  what  the  note  might  mean, 
Mr.  Bates  took  the  train  mentioned,  sure  that 
if  the  writer  was  sincere  it  was  his  duty  to  re- 
spond to  this  call  for  help  from  a  soul  in  dark- 
ness. The  station  of  that  little  New  York  sub- 
urb was  practically  deserted  when  he  stepped 
off  the  train,  but  a  man  dressed  in  the 
livery  of  a  coachman  approached  him  and  asked 
if  he  were  Mr.  Bates.  He  was  then  taken  to 
the  other  side  of  the  station,  where  a  high  phae- 
ton was  waiting.  On  the  seat  sat  a  woman 
dressed  in  black,  and  heavily  veiled.  Telling 
137 


138      LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

the  coachman  that  he  might  go,  she  asked  Mr. 
Bates  to  take  the  seat  beside  her,  and  they 
started  on  their  strange  ride.  He  was  unable 
to  see  the  woman's  face  because  of  the  heavy 
veil,  though  she  turned  occasionally  and  looked 
at  him.  Not  a  word  passed  between  them  for 
some  time.  The  woman  drove  the  horses  skil- 
fully through  woods  and  past  meadows,  by 
beautiful  country  villas,  but  there  was  no  sign 
of  reaching  a  destination  nor  of  her  opening 
a  conversation.  All  of  ]\lr.  Bates'  attempts 
proved  failures.  Finally,  he  suggested  that  it 
was  time  to  return.  The  woman  started,  and 
said,  "Oh,  yes!"  and  turned  the  horses  back 
towards  the  station.  Soon  they  approached  a 
magnificent  residence  which  told  of  wealth 
and  luxur}^  The  woman  turned  the  horses 
into  the  driveway  and  drew  them  up  in  front 
of  the  door.  Being  asked  to  enter,  Mr.  Bates 
found  himself  in  a  beautiful  home.  The  woman 
ordered  the  servants  to  bring  tea.  She  hardly 
spoke  a  word  all  this  time,  and  immediately 
afterwards  drove  Mr.  Bates  to  the  station, 
where  he  caught  the  train  for  New  York.  He 
had  been  amazed  at  this  experience  and  thought 
that  possibly  some  one  had  played  a  joke  on 
him,  though  he  was  unable  to  fathom  the  mys- 
tery. He  himself  had  acted  in  good  faith. 
More  light,  however,  was  thrown  upon  the 


FROM  DARKNESS  INTO  LIGHT     139 

situation  the  next  day  when  the  postman 
brought  another  letter  in  the  same  hand- 
writing. The  letter  asked  that  the  writer 
be  forgiven  for  her  silence  of  the  prece- 
ding day,  stating  that  she  had  thought  Mr. 
Bates  was  a  man  of  middle  age,  but  that 
when  she  had  seen  him  as  a  young  man  she  had 
felt  that  it  was  impossible  to  open  her  heart 
with  all  its  painful  secrets  to  him.  Upon 
further  thought  she  had  again  decided  to  ask 
his  help,  and  if  he  would  be  at  home  that 
afternoon  she  would  call. 

That  afternoon  the  young  woman  came  to 
see  him.  Her  face  told  him  that  she  was  in 
deep  distress,  and  that  her  sorrow  had  in  it 
an  element  of  utter  hopelessness.  And  then 
she  told  him  her  story.  The  story  of  this 
college  girl  is  only  one  of  the  multitude  that 
he  listened  to  with  tender  comprehension  and 
carried  on  his  heart  till  he  had  helped  to  lift 
the  burden  from  the  bearer,  or  brought  light 
into  the  darkness  of  the  soul  in  need. 

Her  family  had  been  wealthy  as  long  as 
she  could  remember.  Money  had  been  at  her 
command  since  her  baby  days  to  do  with  as 
she  had  pleased,  and  the  best  that  art  and  music 
and  travel  could  bring  to  her  had  been  laid  at 
her  feet.  She  had  been  graduated  recently 
from  one  of  the  best  colleges  in  the  East  and 


140      LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

then  had  gone  to  Germany,  where  she  had 
friends  who  were  people  of  influence  and 
power.  She  had  been  received  by  the  Emperor 
at  court. 

And  then  a  terrible  awakening  had  come  to 
her  soul.  A'  cablegram  called  her  home  to  the 
bedside  of  her  dying  father.  She  reached 
America  in  time  for  the  funeral.  In  the  car- 
riage with  her  on  returning  from  the  cemetery 
were  her  mother  and  brother.  Her  brother 
and  she  had  been  chums  from  childhood.  With 
the  exception  of  the  young  society  man  to 
whom  she  was  engaged,  her  brother  was  the 
one  person  in  the  world  she  really  loved.  He 
was  then  a  student  in  college.  Before  leaving 
the  carriage  he  told  them  that  drink  was  send- 
ing him  to  ruin,  that  so  close  a  hold  did  the 
terrible  habit  have  upon  him  that  he  was  al- 
ready literally  a  drunkard,  and  that  he  had 
resolved  that  from  the  day  of  the  funeral  they 
should  never  set  eyes  upon  him  again.  He 
kept  his  word.  He  disappeared,  and  no  trace 
of  him  had  ever  been  discovered. 

When  the  husband's  and  father's  will  was 
read,  and  when  the  estate  was  gone  over,  the 
mother  and  daughter  found  that  their  entire 
fortune  had  been  swept  away  through  stock 
gambling.  Between  mother  and  daughter 
there  was  little  sympathy.     And  then  there 


FROM  DARKNESS  INTO  LIGHT     141 

came  a  letter  from  the  man  to  whom  she  was 
betrothed.  It  was  a  short,  sad  revelation.  He 
stated  that  owing  to  the  fact  that  her  fortune 
had  been  swept  away,  his  own  income  was 
too  small  to  support  them  both  in  the  way 
she  would  need  to  live,  and  so  he  asked  to  be 
released.  Money,  not  love,  had  held  him  to 
her.  But  more  tragic  than  all  of  these  bitter 
trials  was  the  fact  that  from  her  earliest  child- 
hood she  had  been  brought  up  not  only  without 
religious  faith,  but  trained  to  scorn  all  belief 
in  spiritual  realities.  She  was  now  as  one 
"without  hope  and  without  God."  She  closed 
her  heartrending  story  with,  "I  am  the  most 
unhappy  woman  in  the  world.  I  would  gladly 
take  my  life,  but  I  am  too  great  a  coward.  Is 
there  anything  you  can  do  for  me?" 

It  is  of  interest  to  know  that  this  young 
woman  had  originally  heard  of  Mr.  Bates 
through  a  relative  of  his  who  had  spent  a 
previous  summer  at  a  fashionable  resort. 
There  the  girl  had  heard  the  story  of  his 
wonderful  work  among  the  poor  of  lower 
New  York  at  the  Church  of  the  Sea  and  Land. 
The  story  had  deeply  impressed  her.  It  was 
a  life  of  which  she  had  no  experience,  and  in 
her  hour  of  need,  the  story  of  this  young  minis- 
ter and  his  faith  returned  to  her  as  a  possible 


142      LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

ray  of  hope  in  her  darkness.  It  was  thus  that 
she  had  come  to  Mr.  Bates  with  her  appeal. 

He  won  her  at  once  by  his  understanding 
sympathy  and  his  sincere  desire  to  help.  He 
told  her,  as  he  always  tried  to  tell  those  in 
trouble,  that  there  was  One,  and  only  One,  to 
whom  she  might  turn,  and  that  was  Christ.  He 
asked  her  to  read  her  New  Testament.  She 
replied  that  during  her  college  course  she  had 
studied  the  New  Testament  in  Greek  in  order 
to  prove  the  fallacy  of  all  Christian  claims, 
but  she  was  willing  to  do  anything  Mr.  Bates 
asked  of  her.  He  told  her  to  read  each  day 
a  few  verses  from  the  Gospel  of  John,  and  to 
try  to  believe  the  reality  and  the  truth  of  what 
she  read.  He  then  gave  her  a  list  of  the  names 
of  about  twenty  families  in  the  poorest  quarter 
of  lower  New  York,  and  asked  her  to  visit  one 
of  these  families  each  day  until  she  had  called 
on  them  all.  This  would  take  her  about  a 
month.  She  promised  to  do  all  of  this  as 
best  she  could,  and  went  away.  Throughout 
the  month  Mr.  Bates  prayed  earnestly  to  God 
that  what  he  had  told  her  might  be  a  means 
of  bringing  her  to  Himself. 

Her  experience  during  that  month  was  a 
trying  one.  On  the  first  afternoon,  as  she  en- 
tered a  dirty  street  filled  to  overflowing  with 
ragged  children,  mothers  with  babies  in  their 


c3 


FROM  DARKNESS  INTO  LIGHT     143 

arms  crowding  the  sidewalks,  the  smells  from 
old  garbage  cans  and  from  the  tenements  op- 
pressive in  the  air,  her  heart  cried  out  in  anger 
against  it  all.  It  beat  in  upon  her  for  the 
first  time ;  the  misery,  the  poverty,  the  dirt,  the 
smells,  and  she  exclaimed:  "If  there  be  a  God, 
cursed  be  that  God  who  makes  such  things  pos- 
sible."    But  she  kept  on  with  her  work. 

The  first  family  on  the  list  lived  in  one  of 
the  dirtiest  tenements,  on  one  of  the  most 
crowded  streets.  It  was  an  Irish  family.  The 
young  woman  knocked  timidly  at  the  door, 
and  received  a  growl  to  enter.  She  had  never 
seen  such  a  sight  before — dirty,  unwashed 
dishes  scattered  around  the  table,  the  whole 
place  in  confusion  such  as  only  the  poor  who 
lack  character  can  create  and  endure.  It  stag- 
gered her.  Seeing  the  marks  of  wealth  about 
her  visitor,  the  occupant  of  the  room  began  to 
tell  a  pitiful  story  of  rent  unpaid  and  the  dis- 
possessing of  the  family  within  a  few  days. 
At  last  the  girl  drew  out  a  bill  and  left  it  with 
the  woman. 

The  next  day  she  went  to  visit  another  fam- 
ily. Here  again  were  poverty  and  hopelessness. 
After  this  call  she  returned  to  see  how  the 
first  family  was  getting  along.  As  she  climbed 
the  stairs,  coarse  laughter  poured  from  the 
room  where  she  had  left  the  money.    She  found 


144      LIFE  OE  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

a  group  of  women  in  the  room,  most  of  them 
drunk,  with  bottles  standing  around  every- 
where. She  reahzed  that  the  woman  had 
merely  played  upon  her  sympathy.  Sick  at 
heart,  she  went  down  the  stairs  and  out  into 
a  greater  darkness  than  that  of  the  night. 

Thus  the  month  passed.  Day  by  day  the 
terrible  need  pressed  in  upon  her,  day  by  day 
the  anger  and  resentment  in  her  heart  grew. 
But  she  determined  to  keep  her  end  of  the 
promise,  and  Roswell  Bates  was  keeping  his. 

At  last  the  end  of  the  month  arrived,  and 
only  one  family  remained  on  her  list.  Not  a 
home  that  she  had  visited  but  was  poverty- 
stricken  and  wretched.  Yes,  and  not  one  of  all 
that  list  knew  aught  of  the  presence  of  Christ's 
friendship  and  His  cleansing  love.  They  were 
homes  without  God  and  without  hope.  Mr. 
Bates  had  intended  that  this  should  be  the  ex- 
perience through  which  she  should  go. 

And  now  she  had  come  to  the  last  day  of 
the  promise,  to  the  last  family.  As  she  walked 
down  the  street  her  heart  was  filled  with  the 
bitterness  of  failure.  She  climbed  the  stairs 
in  a  tenement  and  knocked  at  the  door.  A 
sweet  voice  called,  "Come  in,"  and  she  entered. 
Here  in  the  same  neighborhood  with  the 
dirty  apartments  she  had  visited,  in  a  tene- 
ment like  the  others,  she  found  herself  in  a 


FROM  DARKNESS  INTO  LIGHT     145 

home,  neat,  clean,  and  attractive.  'A  table 
with  a  fresh  white  cloth  was  set  for  a  meal 
in  the  center  of  the  room.  Two  bright- faced, 
well-dressed,  happy  children  were  playing  on 
the  floor.  The  mother,  sweet  of  face,  came 
forward  and  took  her  hand,  saying :  "We  were 
just  sitting  down  for  lunch.  Won't  you 
stay?"  Overcome  by  this  sudden  transition 
from  distress  to  happiness,  she  sank  into  a 
chair.  Suddenly  she  noticed  a  silence.  The 
heads  of  the  children  were  bowed,  and  to- 
gether they  offered  a  little  prayer  of  thanks  to 
God.  When  the  simple  meal  was  finished, 
and  the  children  had  run  off  to  school,  the 
girl  began  to  talk  to  the  mother.  She  asked 
how  it  was  that  their  home  was  so  different 
from  all  those  in  the  surrounding  tenements 
in  which  she  had  visited. 

Then  the  mother  told  her  story.  It  had 
not  always  been  that  way,  oh  no.  Once  their 
home  was  as  bad  and  even  worse  than  most 
of  the  homes  in  the  neighborhood.  Both  she 
and  her  husband  drank  and  quarrelled,  the 
children  had  few  clothes  and  little  to  eat.  And 
then  a  change  had  taken  place.  One  night 
her  husband  came  home  sober.  He  said  that 
he  was  never  going  to  drink  again.  Down 
at  the  church  some  one  had  talked  to  him,  and 
asked  him  to  join  the  "i\Ien's  League."     He 


146     LIFE  OE  H,  ROSWELL  BATES 

promised  to  live  a  different  kind  of  a  life. 
His  wife  laughed  at  him.  She  gave  him  two 
weeks  to  keep  straight.  He  kept  straight  a 
year.  He  was  a  changed  man.  There  were 
better  food  and  more  clothes  for  the  children. 
A  year  from  the  time  that  he  had  taken  the 
step  towards  a  new  life,  she  went  with  him  to 
the  church.  Now  they  were  both  active  mem- 
bers. "We  found  Christ,"  the  mother  said. 
"He  changed  our  Hves  and  led  us  to  God  our 
Heavenly  Father."  And  then  she  asked  the 
young  woman  to  pray  with  her.  The  girl  could 
not.  How  could  she?  For  she  had  never 
been  taught  even  a  child's  prayer,  but  she 
opened  the  Testament  which  Mr.  Bates  had 
given  her  and  read  from  it. 

When  she  reached  home  that  night,  she 
locked  the  door  of  her  room  and  fell  upon  her 
knees.  "Oh  God,  if  there  is  a  God,  and  I  doubt 
if  there  is,  oh  help  me  to  believe  just  for  one 
day  in  the  reality  and  beauty  of  Christ's  life  and 
message  to  the  world!" 

One  bright  Sabbath  morning,  as  Roswell 
Bates  was  preparing  to  go  into  the  pulpit  of 
the  Spring  Street  Church,  a  note  was  handed  to 
him.  It  read :  "She  who  six  months  ago  was 
the  most  unhappy  woman  in  the  world  is  this 
morning  the  happiest.  I  have  found  Christ, 
and  today  I  unite  with  His  church." 


IX 

PROSPICE 


147 


He  came  from  God,  to  God  returns-^ 

Should  we  complain? 
No,  but  we  ask  Thy  help,  dear  Lord, 
To  bear  the  pain. 

Though  he  has  only  gone  before 

A  little  while, 
Yet  how  we  miss  that  brave  strong  face. 

That  winning  smile! 

We  know  that  he  is  with  the  Lord 

He  loved,  on  high. 
And  dwells  in  joy  and  tireless 

Activity. 

He  showed  us  here  how  Christ  the  Lord 

Would  have  us  live. 
His  life,  his  strength  for  others  'twas 
His  joy  to  give. 

The  Father  said,  "His  work  I  choose 

Aside  to  lay," 
And  took  him  up  to  work  with  Him 

In  endless  day. 

Close  to  the  Master  was  he  here — 

Now  closer  still. 
Working  on  high  his  Master's  work. 

Doing  His  will. 

We  should  rejoice  for  him,  that  he 

Has  "crossed  the  bar," 
And  sees  his  Pilot  "face  to  face," 

Heaven  is  not  far. 


148 


IX 

PROSPICE 

IN  June  of  191 3,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bates  started 
for  South  America,  in  order  to  study  the 
missionary  work  in  that  great  continent, 
and  also  that  Mr.  Bates  might  secure  a  rest 
from  the  unceasing  labours  in  which  he  had 
continued  to  tax  his  strength  beyond  the  limit. 

That  he  tried  to  hide  his  real  condition  even 
from  his  wife  is  revealed  in  one  of  the  last 
letters  he  ever  wrote,  a  letter  to  a  friend  at 
the  Neighborhood  House,  in  which  he  said : 

"I  have  not  told  Edith,  but  I  don't  mind  the 
men  who  are  doing  my  work  at  Spring  Street, 
especially  Scott,  knowing  that  my  strength 
lasted  just  long  enough  to  say  the  last  'good- 
bye'. From  then  till  now  I  have  been  so  weak, 
it  has  been  an  effort  to  hold  a  book  or  a  pen." 

On  Thursday,  July  1 7,  word  came  to  Spring 

Street  that  Roswell  Bates  had  fallen  in  the 

heart  of  South  America,  having  laid  down  his 

life  in  the  service  of  those  whom  he  loved. 

On  the  evening  of  the  following  Sunday,  his 

people  were  asked  to  assemble  in  the  church 
149 


150      LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

to  which  he  had  given  his  Hfe.  The  address 
dehvered  then  by  Mr.  William  S.  Coffin,  and 
the  prayer  that  he  prayed  that  night,  express 
as  nothing  else  could,  what  was  in  the  hearts 
of  Spring  Street  people  that  Sunday  evening. 
He  said  in  part: 

"The  work  which  God  gave  Roswell  Bates 
to  do  was  finished,  and  like  the  great  Prophet 
and  Organizer  of  Israel,  God  sent  him  to  a  far- 
off  mountain,  and  then,  mysteriously  called  him 
home. 

"To  you  and  me  remains  the  task  of  com- 
pleting the  conquest  of  the  Promised  Land, 
and  it  seemed  to  me  the  moment  I  woke  up  this 
morning  as  if  one  message  was  sounding  in 
my  ears,  sent  from  Heaven  to  the  people  of 
Spring  Street,  and  this  is  the  message :  'Speak 
to  the  men  and  women  of  Spring  Street,  that 
they  go  forward.' 

"What  a  land  of  promise  lies  about  this 
church;  thousands  upon  thousands  of  men, 
women  and  little  children,  hungry  and  thirsty 
for  a  gospel  that  will  transform  narrow,  shal- 
low, sinful  lives  into  lives  of  abundance,  beauty 
and  power,  lives  that  are  worth  while  and  really 
count  for  God,  for  country,  and  their  fellow- 
men.  Then  there  are  the  strangers  within  our 
gates — ^the  Italians  so  dear  to  Mr.  Bates'  heart 


PROSPICE  151 

' — ^there  are  the  sick  and  discouraged — there 
are  the  little  children. 

"It  seems  to  me  as  if  our  Captain  were  still 
in  this  room,  his  hand  resting  on  the  shoulder 
of  every  one  here,  and  his  voice  pleading 
earnestly,  'Speak  to  the  men  and  women  of 
Spring  Street  that  they  go  forward.'  And 
seeing  that  we  are  doing  our  work  under  the 
loving  eye  of  such  a  witness,  let  us  lay  aside 
every  weight  and  the  sin  that  doth  so  easily 
beset  us,  and  let  us  run  with  patience  the  race 
that  is  set  before  us,  looking  unto  Jesus,  the 
author  and  perfecter  of  our  faith,  Who  hath 
chosen  you  and  ordained  you  that  ye  should 
go  and  bear  fruit,  and  that  your  fruit  should 
abide,  that  believing  in  Him,  the  works  that 
Jesus  Christ  Himself  did,  we  shall  do  also,  and 
greater  works  than  these  shall  we  do,  through 
the  power  and  example  of  those  that  loved  us 
and  gave  themselves  for  us." 

This  was  the  concluding  prayer:  "Hear,  O 
Father,  the  cry  for  power  that  rises  from 
the  inmost  heart  and  life  of  every  man  and 
woman  in  this  room.  Let  the  mantle  of  him 
who  has  ascended  to  Thy  side  fall  upon  our 
shoulders.  Endow  us  with  a  double  portion  of 
his  spirit — ^the  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ  Himself 
' — ^which  shall  enable  us  to  complete  the  work 
He  has  so  well  organized.    May  we  consecrate 


152      LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

every  day  of  our  lives,  as  he  did,  to  trans- 
forming the  City  of  New  York  into  the  King- 
dom of  our  God  and  of  His  Christ,  and  may  He 
reign  and  reign  alone  in  the  heart  and  life  of 
every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  this  great 
city.  This  we  ask  in  the  name  and  for  the 
sake  of  the  great  Shepherd  of  the  sheep.  Who 
loved  us  and  gave  Himself  for  us,  and  Who 
inspired  the  shepherd  of  this  little  flock  daily 
to  give  his  life  for  his  sheep." 

Still  stunned  by  the  brief  cable  message 
from  South  America,  and  with  the  details  of 
their  leader's  death  unknown,  the  Spring  Street 
people  went  out  from  that  service  w,ith  a 
determination  in  their  hearts  to  be  true  to  the 
trust  that  Roswell  Bates  had  left  to  them. 

The  story  of  his  death  came  finally,  in  a 
letter  written  to  the  Spring  Street  Church, 
from  the  one  he  loved  most  and  who  loved 
him  best,  while  she  was  still  among  the  moun- 
tains of  Peru. 

"We  arrived  at  Cuzco,  July  13.  There  are  no  car- 
riages in  Cuzco,  and  we  walked  to  the  hotel,  a  dis- 
tance of  nearly  half  a  mile,  with  great  difficulty.  I 
put  him  to  bed  at  the  hotel  and  then  started  out  in 
search  of  friends.  I  went  to  the  home  of  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Austin,  American  missionaries,  whose  names 
I  ascertained  in  Mr.  Speer's  book  on  South  America. 
Mrs.  Austin  could  not  accommodate  us  that  night 


PROSPICE  153 

but  promised  to  call  the  next  day.  The  following 
day,  the  trained  nurse,  Miss  Pinn,  called  and  talked 
to  Mr.  Bates  for  nearly  an  hour  about  the  work  in 
South  America.  That  evening  six  Indians  carried 
him  on  a  stretcher  to  the  Austin's  home.  He  slept 
peacefully.    He  was  not  conscious  again. 

"The  following  morning,  Tuesday,  we  called  the 
doctor,  a  Peruvian,  whom  the  Austins  trusted.  He 
said  that  Mr.  Bates  must  not  travel  for  a  week.  No 
one  had  any  anxiety  that  day.  Wednesday  morning 
Miss  Pinn  told  me  that  she  feared  the  end  was  near. 
I  prayed  hard  for  his  life.  He  seemed  stronger  at 
eleven,  and  I  was  sure  that  God  had  answered  my 
prayer,  that  he  would  live  for  his  church,  for  his 
family.  But  at  one  the  nurse  said  that  I  must  say 
good-bye.  That  last  half  hour,  I  was  with  him  alone. 
He  had  no  suffering,  only  a  quiet,  peaceful  sleep, 
and  those  beautiful  eyes  opened  in  Heaven,  where  he 
saw  his  father,  mother,  and  baby  brother. 

"We  had  no  good-bye  and  he  had  no  idea  of  part- 
ing. We  talked  of  separation  at  Lima,  but  he  said,  T 
cannot  die ;  I  must  live  till  my  son  reaches  manhood.' 
He  lived  so  near  to  Heaven  that  God  took  him  as 
our  baby,  Talcott,  goes  to  sleep.  Do  not  mourn  for 
him.  He  is  happy  and  he  understands  the  reason 
why,  although  we  cannot  know  yet.  Mr.  Bates  is 
present  with  us  all  the  time.  I  feel  his  nearness 
every  instant,  and  I  know  that  if  I  am  unhappy,  it 
grieves  him.  Let  us  each  one  live  to  make  him 
happy ;  let  us  show  to  him  in  this  way  our  love,  our 
devotion.  Let  us  make  our  church  a  power,  and  may 
we  all  be  worthy  of  him  whom  we  love  so  devotedly." 


154      LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

Mrs.  Bates  brought  his  body  back  to  New 
York,  at  times  helping  to  carry  it  herself  down 
from  the  mountains.  Back  to  the  sorrowing 
people  of  his  own  Spring  Street  Church  his 
body  was  borne,  that  those  whom  he  had  loved 
with  almost  the  Master's  devotion  might  not 
be  denied  the  comfort  of  bearing  witness  to 
their  love  in  the  last  service  over  the  mortal 
remains  of  their  minister,  whose  spirit  had 
gone  home  to  God. 

In  the  services  which  followed  there  was 
no  note  of  despair,  but  only  of  a  great  and 
glorious  victory,  stirring  his  people  to  greater 
achievement  than  that  already  accomplished 
with  him. 

His  funeral  service  was  held  in  the  Spring 
Street  Church  on  Sunday  morning,  August 
17.  Dr.  George  Alexander  gave  the  opening 
address  and  Rev.  Murray  Shipley  Rowland 
delivered  to  the  sorrowing  people  gathered 
there  what  he  believed  to  be  Mr.  Bates'  mes- 
sage to  his  Spring  Street : 

"Yonder  on  Morningside  Heights,  there  is 
growing  slowly,  year  by  year,  the  great  cathe- 
dral that  is  to  be.  That  which  stands  there  to- 
day is  but  a  faint  promise  of  that  which  shall 
one  day  crown  those  heights. 

"You  are  building  a  cathedral  here  on 
Spring  Street.     Into  its  walls  have  already 


PROSPICB  155 

been  built  noble  lives,  sweet,  strong  lives, 
lives  of  delicate  fragrance  and  beauty.  And 
the  cornerstone  has  been  the  Lord,  the  Mas- 
ter, and  the  keystone  of  the  arch  has  been  your 
pastor.  But,  after  all  it  is  only  the  beginning, 
and  as  the  years  pass,  you  are  to  build  your 
lives  into  this  rising  cathedral,  that  it  shall  be 
perfect,  nothing  lacking,  no  stones  missing,  no 
beauty  lost,  but  a  perfect  building,  builded  to- 
gether in  the  Lord. 

"And  this  is  his  message  to  you:  *This  is 
the  power  that  overcometh  the  world, — even 
your  faith.'  He  'has  fought  the  good  fight, 
he  has  finished  the  course,  he  has  kept  the 
faith,'  and  Christ  the  Redeemer  has  promised 
that  there  is  laid  up  for  him,  and  for  you,  the 
Crown  of  Righteousness,  which  the  Lord  shall 
give  to  him  at  that  time,  not  to  him  only,  but  to 
all  those  who  love  his  Lord." 

The  next  day  beside  his  grave  at  Hartford, 
Connecticut,  the  same  note  of  victory  resounded 
through  the  words  of  Rev,  Charles  E.  Rhodes : 

"Here,  at  last,  our  long,  sad  journey  ends. 
From  the  very  first  nothing  has  been  said  or 
done  to  make  the  last  services  for  our  dear  one 
seem  like  defeat;  nothing  has  been  funereal. 
The  note  of  victory  has,  as  is  most  fitting,  been 
always  kept  uppermost.  So  let  it  be  at  this 
place  where  the  last  words  are  said. 


156      LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

"All  this  has  seemed  so  in  keeping  with  the 
life  which  has  not  ended,  but  only  changed. 
The  great  and  good  work  shall  forever  go  on. 
No  broken  column  symbolizes  the  earthly  por- 
tion of  Roswell's  life;  even  that  was  complete, 
though  short.  Rather  does  the  full  sheaf  of 
wheat  symbolize  that  life.  The  world  is  better 
because  he  lived  and  worked.  And  his  works 
shall  follow  him.  His  memory  shall  be  blessed. 
Of  him  it  may  be  most  truly  said:  'This  is  the 
victory,  even  your  faith.' 

"The  loss  to  us,  and  the  separation,  fill  our 
hearts  with  untold  sadness.  But  our  sadness 
is  not  like  that  of  those  who  sorrow  without 
hope.  Our  hope  and  our  faith  sustain  us,  as 
they  ever  sustained  him.    So  would  he  have  it. 

"Rarely  could  the  last  words  of  the  great 
Christian  poet,  Browning,  be  applied  to  another 
so  well  as  here,  for  our  brother  was  called  away 
'at  noonday  in  the  bustle  of  man's  work-time.' 
And  how  well  do  these  words  characterize 
him: 

"  'One  who  never  turned  his  back  but  marched  breast 
forward. 
Never  doubted  clouds  would  break, 
Never  dreamed,  though  right  were  worsted,  wrong 

would  triumph, 
Held  we  fall  to  rise,  are  baffled  to  fight  better, 
Sleep  to  wake." 


Entrance  to  Bates  House 


PROSPICE  157 

On  November  2,  a  Memorial  Service  was 
held  in  the  Spring  Street  Church,  in  which 
very  simply  and  briefly,  testimony  to  the  con- 
tinuing power  of  the  influence  of  Roswell 
Bates,  was  given  by  Dr.  George  Alexander, 
Dr.  A.  Woodruff  Halsey,  and  Dr.  Henry  S. 
Coffin,  representing  his  fellow-ministers  in 
New  York  City,  and  by  some  of  the  younger 
men  whom  he  had  inspired  to  do  the  work  of 
the  future.  Rev.  William  D.  Barnes,  Jr.,  Rev. 
Albert  L.  Evans,  Rev.  Frank  L.  Janeway, 
Rev.  Theodore  F.  Savage,  Rev.  John  E.  Flem- 
ming,  and  Rev.  Norman  M.  Thomas.  The 
triumphant  message  of  his  life  was  again  driven 
home  to  the  hearts  of  his  people.  Mr.  Thomas 
summed  up  the  wonder  of  his  work  at  Spring 
Street  and  in  the  colleges  when  he  said : 

"A  few  years  ago  a  clergyman  asked  me: 
*How  long  will  Mr.  Bates  stay  at  Spring 
Street?  A  man  who  can  preach  as  he  can 
ought  not  to  stay — it's   foolish.' 

"Today  we  are  here  to  pay  our  homage  to 
such  magnificent  folly.  In  that  which  is  fool- 
ishness to  the  world  is  revealed  the  wisdom  of 
God.  The  loyalty  which  kept  Mr.  Bates  at 
Spring  Street,  above  all  else,  explains  his 
character  and  work,  and  the  vision  he  had  of 
the  part  the  Church  should  play  in  communi- 
ties like  this,  is  the  vision  the  Church  must 


158      LIFE  OF  H.  ROSWELL  BATES 

have  if  ever  she  herself  is  to  be  saved  and  to 
save  a  world  for  Christ. 

"The  world  is  hungering  and  thirsting  today 
for  a  living  message,  which  comes  in  the  wis- 
dom and  power  of  God.  Such  he  brought, 
especially  to  young  men.  He  came  to  them 
with  a  great  sympathy.  He  knew  their  tempta- 
tions and  weaknesses.  He  told  them  of  a 
Christ  Who  was  mighty  to  save.  He  spoke 
of  no  distant  theological  Redeemer,  but  of  a 
personal  Friend,  Whose  friendship  he  had 
proved.  Who  had  helped  him  in  his  own  temp- 
tations, and  out  of  weakness  had  made  him 
strong.  He  did  more  than  that.  He  bade 
men  look  at  the  darkness  of  sin  and  mis- 
ery around  about  them  in  the  poorest 
regions  of  the  city,  and  then  he  told  them 
that  even  there  had  the  light  shined.  So  he 
won  his  hearers  in  the  colleges  not  with 
words  of  eloquence,  but  with  a  life  of  service, 
and  with  tales  of  his  own  experience  in  bring- 
ing in  the  fulness  of  life  which  Christ  came  to 
give,  even  to  the  poorest  and  neediest  of  earth. 
Because  he  had  himself  thus  proved  Christian- 
ity and  made  it  a  force  in  reclaiming  the 
drunkard,  arousing  the  indifferent,  and  lighten- 
ing the  burden  of  the  poor,  he  had  a  message 
for  college  men  which  he  never  would  have 
had  apart  from  his  work  here  at  Spring  Street. 


PROSPICE  159 

How  extensive  his  influence  was,  only  God 
knows.  I  think  it  is  true  that  Hterally  hun- 
dreds of  college  men  today  mourn  him  as  a 
personal  friend,  and  feel  the  influence  of  his 
words  as  one  of  the  strongest  forces  in  their 
lives." 

The  work  of  the  leader  will  increase  as 
Spring  Street  grows  with  the  years.  'A  dream 
which  was  in  the  heart  of  Roswell  Bates 
before  he  went  to  South  America  is  soon  to 
be  realized  in  the  erection  at  Spring  Street  of 
a  new  Gymnasium  and  a  Dormitory  for  work- 
ing girls.  Over  the  door  there  will  be  an 
inscription  which  contains  the  very  essence  of 
the  spirit  working  today  at  Spring  Street: 


TO    CONTINUE    THE    WORK 
OF  H.  ROSWELL  BA^ES 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America. 


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